Paper Hearts
by jellybeans16
Summary: After graduation, Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, Haley, Nathan, Rachel, Mouth, and baby James rent a cabin by the sea. Eventually a Brucas, with bits of Naley and possibly Jeyton...
1. Chapter 1

Set at the end of Season Four, Chase did return but couldn't get past the sex tape so he and Brooke never got back together. Peyton was never offered the internship in LA and so neither her nor Brooke left for the summer.

**Summary:**** As a graduation present, Karen and Deb rent a house by the beach for the group. They also rent a smaller one a few minutes away for themselves. Mostly Brooke/Lucas, but also Nathan/Haley, Lucas/Peyton, Jake/Peyton, and possibly Rachel/Mouth, although I'm not yet sure about the last one. Basically, the story follows the events of the holiday… it's pretty straightforward really! Oh, and don't be put off by the boring first chapter, I've posted the second one too so hopefully you'll see an improvement! All reviews/criticisms are welcome ******

**Chapter One**

'Nate, you know I love your mom and Karen for organising this trip for us and all, but _why_ did we invite Rachel?' Haley whined, as she clambered into the back of the minivan Lucas had borrowed in order to transport the seven teenagers, one baby, and lots of luggage to Portlyn, a small town on the North Carolina coastline.

Nathan laughed, completely used to his wife's hatred of the beautiful redhead. 'Well I don't think _we_ did Hales,' he pointed out, 'I think you can blame Brooke for that one.'

'Blame Brooke for what?' the brunette asked, bounding up beside the back of the van followed by Mouth, who was practically buried beneath a small mountain of matching pink luggage. 'I already told you, the sex tape was all Nathan's idea, in fact you even _saw_ him turn the camera on, there's no way he's blaming me for that one.'

'Okay, thanks for reminding me of that image,' Haley sarcastically rejoindered from her seat in the back, 'but we were actually talking about you inviting the W-H-O-R-E.'

'Two things tutor-mom,' Brooke rebutted as she climbed into the bus and took her place in the seat in front of Haley, dropping a kiss on James's forehead as she did so. 'One, I don't think my beautiful godson here has quite got the language skills to understand swearing yet, so the spelling was probably unnecessary, and two, you told me I could bring a date.'

'So Rachel's your date?' Nathan raised his eyebrows. 'Hmmm, this trip just got interesting!'

The two girls shot him twin looks of disgust, as Nathan held up his hands in defeat and returned to helping Mouth with Brooke's mountain of luggage. 'Well, no,' Brooke continued her explanation, 'but seeing as of the two men I've ever actually loved, one is dating my best friend and the other refuses to have anything to do with me because I slept with the ex-boyfriend of said best friend, aka the brother of best friend's current boyfriend, while they were dating, my love life is somewhat non-existent at the present time, hence Rachel. And besides, she's actually been a good friend to me, even if she is a bitch to 99 of the population. Plus, she has good shoes, meaning I didn't have to bring as many.'

'Well I for one am glad she's here,' Mouth joined the conversation as he jumped into the middle passenger seat, whilst Nathan made his way to the back next to his son, who was fast asleep in his baby seat next to Haley. 'If Brooke had brought any more shoes I think we'd have needed another van.'

'Hmmm, you've got a point there man,' Nathan agreed as Brooke stuck her tongue out at Mouth's comment. 'Okay, Rachel can stay.'

'Aww, Nate, I knew you wanted me,' Rachel smirked in Haley's direction as she bounced into the seat next to Brooke.

'Ugh, kill me now', Haley moaned, smacking her head against the window in genuine disgust.

'Well, that could be arranged', Rachel taunted back. 'I could totally go for the hot-single-dad thing. Manly man, taking care of his little baby, such a turn on, right Pey?' This last aimed at the curly-haired blond who had just entered the van, joining Brooke and Rachel on the middle row.

Peyton rolled her eyes. 'Did I mention how glad I am that you're joining us on this trip?' she asked sarcastically.

Rachel smiled sweetly. 'It's always the same,' she announced to no one in particular. 'Guys want me right here right now, girls want me as far away as possible. It's tough being as hot as me. But don't worry, I promise to stay away from the Scott brothers. Can't promise they can resist me though.'

'Oh, I think we'll survive, right Nate?' Lucas asked his brother as he got into the driver's seat. 'I mean, I did manage to resist the sight of you naked, if I remember rightly.'

Rachel grunted in annoyance and sat back in her seat as the rest of the group laughed. 'Right then, we ready to go?' Lucas continued as he stuck the keys into the ignition. 'No one's forgotten anything?' As a chorus of 'no's' and 'ready's' met his questions, Lucas nodded and started the engine. 'Okay, then, Portlyn here we come.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One hour and five Rachel-Haley spats later, Brooke was beginning to get cold. 'Hey, Nate,' she whispered, trying not to wake either James or his now-sleeping mother, 'can you see if anyone has a sweater near the top of their bag? I'm fricking freezing here.'

Nathan turned round to examine the pile of bags behind him. 'Uh, the bags at the top are all yours,' he answered. 'Any idea which one's got a sweater in?'

Brooke sighed exasperatedly. 'I didn't bring one,' she answered, 'I mean, we're going to the beach, it's supposed to be hot.'

Rachel laughed in disbelief. 'Davis, there is no way you haven't brought a sweater. What about that stupid grey hoodie you always wear? Okay, I know it's ugly and about ten sizes too big even for your fat ass, but you use that thing like a security blanket, there's no way you didn't bring it.'

'Got it,' announced Nathan who had been rummaging around in the topmost of Brooke's bags as Rachel spoke, as he pulled out a grey bundle and shook it slightly. 'Man, you're right, this is huge, why do you even have this Brooke?'

By this time Peyton and Rachel had both turned round to observe the proceedings, whilst Lucas watched through the rearview mirror. Sighing, Brooke reached over and grabbed the hoodie out of Nathan's hands, hoping to avoid the inevitable. But no such luck. With one final shake, Nathan passed over the sweater, its logo clear for all to see: Keith Scott Body Shop.

For a second there was total silence as the group simultaneously assessed the situation and its implications. Then, silently, Nathan carefully lifted the incriminating hoodie from Brooke's hands and zipped it back inside her bag, before removing his own sweater and passing it over to her, with a look of sympathy mixed with apology.

'Thanks,' she mumbled, as she pulled it over her head, her eyes meeting Lucas's reflection as she did so. He gave her a small, sad, smile, and she sighed again, leaning her head against the window, trying to regain some sort of equilibrium.

'Okay, seriously, what's the big deal?' Rachel asked brightly. 'So Brooke likes to wear Lucas's sweater, it's not like it means she's still in love with him, right?'

Brooke glanced back up at Rachel, catching the look of bewilderment on Peyton's face in the seat next to the redhead's. 'Hardly,' she snorted, as convincingly as possible, 'it's just comfy that's all.'

The words sounded hollow to her own ears, but a look of relief passed over Peyton's face and Brooke smiled, knowing she'd been believed. But as she settled back into her seat her eyes caught Lucas's again and his piercing blue eyes burned straight into her heart. _Dammit_ _Luke, I don't love you_, she told his reflection silently and vehemently, and for a moment she almost believed it. Almost.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'So how far is your mom and Deb's cabin from here?' Mouth asked Lucas as they helped Nathan carry the bags into the house. The two older women had decided to spend their own vacation close by, with Lily, as neither was entirely ready to return to work following the events of the last few weeks.

'Just a few minutes down the road, right Nate?' Lucas answered as his brother grunted in agreement.

'Yep,' the younger Scott concurred, 'free babysitters on tap.'

Mouth laughed, shaking his head. 'Yeah, like there's any chance either you or Haley are gonna let that baby out of your sight!'

Nathan grinned, knowing full well his son had already got both his parents wrapped around his little finger. 'Okay, so maybe we won't make full use of their services,' he admitted, 'but I somehow think we might have to let his grandma look after him sometimes. Brooke and Rachel are part of this trip remember, and I'm pretty sure they've got plans that James isn't quite ready to be part of!'

'You may have a point there', Mouth agreed, as Lucas picked up the last bags and carried them inside. 'Hey, do you think she's alright? Brooke, I mean? That thing with Lucas's hoodie was a bit odd…'

Nathan shook his head slightly. 'I dunno man,' he said, 'sometimes I think she's still into him, but you know Brooke, she'd never admit it even if she was. I'm sure she's okay though.'

'Yeah,' Mouth nodded 'I'm sure she is. I just worry about her though you know?'

Nathan slammed the boot of the van shut and locked it. 'Yeah, me too, Mouth' he muttered as the two made their way into the house. 'Me too'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Why is it that rooms with twin beds always have less wardrobe space than those with doubles?' Brooke whined as she tried to cram another hanger into the already overflowing closet. 'Surely it should be people who actually _have_ a sex life who don't need clothes?'

'Firstly, don't tar us all with the same brush. You might be a born-again virgin, but me? I don't think so. And secondly, hello, what about lingerie? I bet Peyton's side of the closet's full of sexy outfits to lure Lucas into bed,' Rachel countered from her place on one of the beds in the room the two girls shared.

Brooke shot her a dirty look and continued to unpack. 'I'm choosing to ignore that comment on the grounds that I've seen P. Sawyer in lingerie and she doesn't have the chest for it. Plus, Lucas prefers his women to go without wherever possible, easier access that way.' A saucy smile crossed her face as she remembered the numerous times she and Lucas had got so horny they had had no choice but to take care of it right there and then, be that in the car, in the locker rooms, or in Karen's Café. Underwear was a real hindrance in those sorts of situations.

'Ugh, you're thinking about sex with Lucas whilst he's probably fucking your best friend in the next room, how warped is that?' Rachel's whining cut through the images that were currently running through Brooke's head, and she glared at her friend in annoyance.

'I am _not_ thinking about sex with Lucas,' she protested feebly, before remembering that she was supposed to be mad at Rachel for events in the car, 'although everyone probably thinks I am now that you've told them all I wear his hoodie like, what was it? A security blanket? He probably thinks I'm still in love with him for fuck's sake!'

'Uh, hate to tell you this Davis, but you are' Rachel announced matter-of-factly. 'Yeah, yeah,' she continued, as Brooke opened her mouth to protest, 'I know, you don't love Lucas, you love Chase, and he's the reason you're such a miserable bitch, blah blah blah. I've heard it all before, but that doesn't make it any less bullshit.'

Brooke glared furiously at her friend, struggling to think of a comeback, but desperately unable to do so. 'Well at least Lucas didn't refuse to sleep with me,' she finally scoffed feebly, turning and storming out of the room, as Rachel's laughter followed her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so this chapter should be better than the first, seeing as something actually happens in this one…hopefully anyway! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two**

A couple of hours later and everything had finally been unpacked, after Mouth had agreed to house the remainder of Brooke's wardrobe in his closet, and the group were collapsed on the comfy sofas in the cabin's living room.

'Okay, I'm bored,' Brooke announced to the room in general, applying the last lick of pink polish to her little toenail and screwing the lid back on the bottle. 'What are we doing now?'

A collective shrug passed around the room in response and Brooke groaned in annoyance. 'Come on,' she wheedled, 'we've gotta do _something_.'

'Well Rachel and I are going to find the nearest supermarket and get us some food', Mouth offered, 'you can join us if you want?'

Brooke made a face. 'Ugh, food shopping, I don't think so. Anyone else?'

'Umm, well actually I think I'm gonna take a nap,' Haley stretched and got to her feet. 'James didn't sleep well last night, so I'm pretty exhausted.' Seeing Brooke's horrified expression the young mother laughed and continued, 'but don't worry Brooke, Deb's coming over to take the little monster later so we can make full use of the hot tub without fear of your games corrupting my baby.'

'Hmm, well I suppose that's okay then', Brooke nodded, satisfied that at least plans for that night seemed to be progressing. 'Off you go then tutor-mom, you need to be all rested up for the fun I've got planned.' She waggled her eyebrows suggestively at her friend, who simply rolled her eyes and left the room, blowing a kiss to her husband as she did so. 'P. Sawyer?' Brooke continued, 'what about you?'

'Sorry Brooke, but I think I'm gonna go for a nap too,' the blonde answered apologetically. 'I didn't sleep well last night either.'

'Really didn't need to know that Goldilocks,' Brooke joked, pulling a disgusted face to hide the momentary flash of hurt that burned across her heart as she realised exactly _why_ her best friend had been up all night. 'Fine, go, be boring, I'll just have to rely on these two for entertainment. Or, on second thoughts,' she countered, as Lucas picked up a basketball and headed out to the yard, 'maybe I'll just spend some time with my gorgeous godson.'

'Would you, Brooke?' Nathan butted in hopefully. 'Watch James I mean?'

'Well, it's not exactly the exciting afternoon I was hoping for…' she pretended to consider her options, enjoying the begging look on Nathan's face. 'But, I suppose we could watch Daddy beat Uncle Luke, couldn't we sweetheart?' This last to the gurgling infant as she picked up his carrycot and followed Nathan outside.

A little while later the Scott brothers were happily competing in a game of one-on-one, whilst Brooke sat on a sunlounger and watched, baby James cooing contentedly on her lap.

'Give me a D, give me an A, give me a D, give me another D, give me a Y, what do you get? DADDY!' Brooke cheered quietly, gently moving James's arms into the correct positions as the baby giggled helplessly. 'Yay, that's my boy,' she laughed, dropping a kiss on the infant's head.

'Brooke, what are you doing to my nephew?' Lucas's voice cut through the pair's giggles and she looked up. 'You can't make him into a cheerleader, that's just wrong!'

'I think you'll find I can Broody, it's in my rights as godmother,' Brooke smirked. 'Although I am waiting for Karen to let me watch Lily, I think she'll be easier to teach.'

'Great, my sister, the next Brooke Davis,' Lucas laughed, shaking his head. 'God help me!'

Brooke stuck her tongue out at the older Scott in mock hurt. 'Well someone's gotta teach her about the fun things in life,' she countered. 'With you as a big brother and Peyton around all the time the poor kid's gonna grow up depressed! So she needs Auntie Brooke to keep her sane, isn't that right gorgeous?' she asked the little boy sitting on her lap, who looked up at her and gurgled in agreement. 'See, James knows I'm right,' the brunette told the baby's uncle. 'He knows I'm gonna be the cool aunt who'll tell him and Lily all about S-E-X and-'

'Brooke!' Nathan's voice cut through her proclamations. 'You are _not_ telling my one-month old son about S-E-X!'

'Relax tutor-daddy,' Brooke giggled, hugging the little boy closer. 'I'm telling him nothing yet; it can wait a few months. Although,' she added off Nathan's glare,' he is a Scott after all, maybe I should tell him now, with those genes he could be knocking girls up before he can walk. And God knows we don't need any more Scott boys in this world!'

'Oh I dunno about that Davis,' Rachel's body appeared in the screen doors leading to the back yard, her arms filled with grocery bags. 'You have slept with all the existing Scotts, you could probably use some fresh meat. Apart from Daddy-Dan that is, but now he's locked up you might have to write that one off as a lost cause.'

'Eww!' A look of horror crossed Brooke's face, matching the expressions of Lucas and Nathan upon hearing Rachel's words. 'Don't worry baby,' she told James, 'Auntie Rachel's a little bit insane, there's no way Auntie Brooke would have S-E-X with Grandpa Dan.' _Uncle Lucas though_…Brooke bit her lip, trying too late to prevent the thought crossing her mind. Thankfully, though, Haley chose that moment to reappear, picking James off Brooke's lap and showering him with kisses.

'How's my gorgeous boy?' Haley asked her son. 'Have you been good for Auntie Brooke?' she continued, looking to her friend for the answer.

'Don't worry Hales, he's been an angel,' Brooke reassured the anxious mother. 'We watched Daddy and Uncle Luke play basketball, didn't we sweetheart?'

'And Brooke taught our _son_ how to cheer,' Nathan added, clearly concerned about James's future sexuality, but Haley only laughed, as did Brooke.

'Well, you shouldn't have made me godmother then boy toy,' the brunette taunted, as Haley consoled her husband with a quick peck on his pouting lips.

'Yeah, why did we do that again Hales?' Nathan asked his wife half-seriously, but his question was answered for him as Brooke once again removed James from his mother's arms and carried him inside, muttering something about the little boy needing his diaper changing before mad-Grandma Deb came to pick him up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You know, for a chick with a fat ass, you sure can rock a bikini Davis,' Rachel noted as her friend came out of the bathroom dressed in a red halter neck number that perfectly accentuated her curves.

'Thanks bitch,' Brooke responded, 'you too…although I'm a little worried, won't all the plastic make you sink?'

'Plastic floats Brooke,' Haley told her friend, wandering into the hall to join them with a towel wrapped self-consciously around her mid-section. 'But interesting point though, maybe if we put her in the sea she'll float away.'

'Ooh, good plan Hales,' Peyton joined the conversation as Brooke laughed at her friend's comment, 'lets do it.'

'Ugh, whatever, you're just jealous because I look better in a bikini than you do,' Rachel rejoindered.

'Rachel, I gave birth a _month_ ago,' Haley pointed out, 'I'm not supposed to look good in a bikini.'

'Aww, you look hot tutor-mom,' Brooke said, placing a reassuring arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. 'But lose the towel, you've got nothing to hide…or maybe you do,' she exclaimed as Haley timidly let the towel drop to the floor. 'Freaking hell tutor-mom, you've got bigger boobs than me now!'

'She's right Hales,' Peyton agreed as Haley blushed furiously. 'Hmmm,' the blonde continued, looking down at her own chest as the girls began to wander out to the hot tub, 'maybe I'll have to have a kid, it's probably cheaper than a boob job, right Rach?'

'Nah, I wouldn't bother Pey,' Rachel opined in an unusually nice tone, but shooting a wicked glance at Brooke as she did so. 'I mean, Lucas is clearly happy with what he's got, right?'

Peyton nodded uncertainly, not sure where the redhead was going with this.

'Which is surprising really,' Rachel continued. 'I mean, didn't you tell me, Brooke, that your boobs were Lucas's favourite part of you?' Off Brooke's warning glare Rachel laughed, and carried on with her teasing. 'Wasn't there something about licking whipped cream off your nipples? You remember, you said it turned you on so much you had to-'

'Okay Rachel, that's enough,' Brooke screamed out in panic, getting the attention of the guys who were already in the hot tub. 'Umm, I need a drink, back in a sec.' And with that she ran back into the house, hoping to hide her embarrassment from the others.

'What was all that about?' Lucas asked his girlfriend as she climbed into the hot tub next to him.

'Oh, nothing, Rachel was just being a bitch,' Peyton told him, trying to put the disturbing image of her boyfriend licking her best friend's breasts out of her mind.

'Okay, no change there then,' Lucas murmured in reply, but he remained distracted by the brunette whose silhouette he could see pacing around in the kitchen. It seemed odd, but Lucas could have sworn he recognised the look on Brooke's face just before she ran inside. It was one he'd seen many times before; generally when he had certain parts of her body in his mouth: she looked incredibly aroused.

_And incredibly arousing_. Lucas's heart beat slightly faster as Brooke re-emerged from the kitchen, clutching a bottle of vodka and a pile of plastic shot glasses in her hand. She looked stunning in the red bikini she wore, and Lucas forced thoughts of Peyton into his head in an attempt to prevent his mind from remembering other times she'd worn the same bikini, and, more importantly, times when she'd taken it off. For a second he pondered the irony of the fact that he was thinking about his girlfriend to _stop_ himself from being turned on, but then Brooke slid into the seat opposite him, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage, and suddenly such musings didn't seem all that important.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Funny, Davis,' Rachel pouted as she downed her shot. 'But revenge is sweet. Okay, I never…slept with my teacher.'

For a second there was silence, and then the friends, minus Lucas, who sat with a dour expression on his face, burst out in hysterical laughter as Brooke picked up her glass and downed yet another shot. 'Bitch,' she muttered in annoyance, 'I'm gonna be so hungover tomorrow.'

'Okay, okay,' Nathan laughed, 'I'm not sure I wanna know, but I've gotta ask. Who? When? _Why?_'

Infectious giggles overtook the group as Brooke groaned and buried herself as far under the water as she could without losing the ability to breathe. 'Chavez,' she mumbled finally, to the sound of increasing laughter. 'I met him in a bar, he told me he was a male model, I told him my name was Peyton…and then I went to English the next morning, and poof, there he was!'

'So it was just a one night thing then?' Nathan asked, having assumed the role of interrogator.

'Ummm,' Brooke hid her face in her hands, 'not exactly…'

The laughter increased as Rachel took it upon herself to relay how she had watched Brooke sneak out to their teacher's car every night, whilst Brooke moaned feebly in protest. 'Okay, how did I not know about this?' Peyton questioned laughingly, turning to her best friend.

'We weren't exactly on speaking terms at the time Blondie,' the brunette reminded her friend. 'It was just after Lucas and I broke up…the second time…and, well, you know…'

'Well it's good to know you got over me so quickly,' Lucas spoke for the first time since Brooke's revelation, his words coming out slightly more harshly than intended. 'But carry on, what happened?' he continued, unable to stop the venom creeping further into his voice. 'Let me guess, he found it difficult to completely open up after his father killed his uncle so you got bored and dumped him?'

A collective gasp went around the group. Brooke blinked furiously, desperate to hide the tears threatening to escape at Lucas's harsh words. Exhaling slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet his and, trying to keep her voice calm answered his question. 'Firstly, that isn't why we broke up, and you know it. And secondly, I broke up with Chavez because I caught him cheating on me. You'd have liked her actually,' she persisted bravely, anger rising up inside her now, 'she was blonde, skinny, you know, your type.' Peyton, sitting beside Lucas, had the grace to blush. 'But I suppose I should be grateful, ' Brooke finished, standing up and moving to the edge of the hot tub, yet never taking her flashing eyes of Lucas's blue ones, 'the girl Chavez was screwing was just one of my models, _not_ my best friend.'

And with that, a sob finally escaped, and Brooke ran back into the house, followed rapidly by Haley who stopped only to give Lucas a dirty look before chasing after her friend. Leaning back against the walls of the hot tub, Lucas sighed. _Fuck._


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, first of all wow! I'm amazed at the number of positive reviews I received for the last chapter, so thank you so much for that! Of course, now I'm scared in case this chapter doesn't live up to expectations, but I guess I can live with that! So the major part of this section deals with the fallout from the end of last chapter. I'm a little worried about Brooke's reaction because although it fits in with my view of her character I'm not sure it'll fit in with everyone's. So yeah, if you don't agree with it (or anything else) just let me know in your review (hint!) and I'll try to explain what I mean. Enjoy! Chapter Three 

'So,' Peyton asked her boyfriend as she marched determinedly into their bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her, 'care to tell me what all that was about?'

Lucas looked up from the book he was pretending to read, a guilty expression on his face. 'Is she okay?' he questioned, worry evident in his voice.

Peyton nodded, lying down on the bed next to Lucas. 'I think so. I haven't seen her; we thought, given the circumstances, it was best if I didn't, but Haley says she's okay, just a bit upset. Understandably,' the blonde girl qualified, glaring at her boyfriend. 'Oh, and Haley and Rachel want to kill you,' she added, 'but I told them I might do it first.' Peyton groaned, banging her head back against the pillow. 'Are you still in love with her Luke?'

'What?' Lucas exclaimed, managing to hide the guilt in his voice. 'No, Pey, of course not!'

'Okay,' Peyton gave a small smile, the first since the evening's earlier events. 'It's just, the way you reacted, it seemed like you were jealous…'

Lucas sighed. 'No, I wasn't jealous, it's just…when she ended things, my heart broke. And hearing her talk about screwing some guy only a couple of weeks later, well, it felt like she was saying she never loved me. I dunno, I guess I'd had a bit too much to drink, and I just overreacted. I'm sorry baby.'

The girl nodded thoughtfully. 'Did Brooke ever tell you why she didn't want you talk to me? At Haley and Nathan's wedding I mean?'

Lucas frowned, trying to remember. 'No, I don't think so,' he said at last. 'I thought it was because she'd found out about what happened in the library that day, but when I told her she was surprised. I guess I never asked. Why?'

Peyton took a deep breath. 'I told her I was in love with you,' she stated simply. 'That's why she was upset, that's when she ended our friendship, and, I think, that's a large part of why she broke up with you.'

'Wow,' Lucas exhaled, trying to process this new information. 'That explains a lot. But, why did she never tell me that?'

Peyton shrugged. 'I thought she would have done, it would have given her an excuse to keep you away from me, and the two of you could have been happy. But I guess she was scared of getting her heart broken by us again.'

'Yeah, I guess,' Lucas nodded, massaging his head with his hands.

'And I don't think the Chavez thing was about her not caring about you,' Peyton continued quietly. 'Brooke's just like that. She needs someone to love her.'

'And then he hurt her, just like we did,' Lucas agreed sadly. 'Ugh,' he smacked his head against the wall in frustration. 'God, I'm such a dick,' he moaned.

Peyton smiled. 'Yeah, you are a bit,' she teased gently, 'but I still love you. And don't worry, Brooke will forgive you.'

'I hope you're right,' her boyfriend sighed.

'I am,' Peyton told him confidently, 'now, I'm tired, so move your ass over there and let me have some space.'

Lucas grinned and obliged, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend as she settled in next to him. But as Peyton's breathing filled the room, he was unable to shake off the memory of the hurt in Brooke's eyes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later and Lucas still hadn't managed to fall asleep. Untangling himself from his sleeping girlfriend he slipped out into the hallway, intending to get a glass of water, but stopping when he heard Rachel's and Mouth's voices coming from the kitchen. Not wanting to deal with them yet, Lucas sighed and was about to turn back into his own room when he realised the door to the room opposite his was slightly ajar. Moving closer, he was able to make out a petite figure curled up on the bed farthest away from, and in a split second he made his decision.

'Brooke,' he whispered, tiptoeing gently towards the fragile looking girl. She was curled up on top of the covers in the foetal position, facing away from him. Pausing for a second, he allowed himself to take in the sight of her, unable to contain a smile as he realised the oversized sweater she wore over her tiny black shorts was his own. Listening carefully, the shallowness of her breaths told him that not only was she awake, but also that she was crying, and his heart went out to her.

Impulsively, he covered the short distance from the door to her bed and climbed up beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist. 'I'm so sorry pretty girl,' he murmured into her hair.

She turned to face him, eyes bright with tears, and for a moment Lucas tensed, expecting her to hit him, shout at him. But instead her voice, though shaky, was soft. 'Did you really think I loved you that little?' she asked, uncertainty clear in her voice.

Sighing, Lucas laced his fingers with hers. 'I don't know,' he told her honestly, repeating the explanation he had given to Peyton earlier. 'I just – I don't understand Brooke. If you loved me, how could you go and sleep with someone else so soon after we split up?'

Brooke shook her head, a hint of anger returning to her green eyes. 'Well I guess that says it all,' she noted sadly. 'If me fucking some random stranger to try and get over you means I didn't love you enough, then what does you kissing my best friend, _twice_, while we were dating say about your feelings for me?' Her voice trailed off, and tears began to fall rapidly.

'I'm sorry Brooke,' Lucas murmured helplessly, uncertain what to do, what to say, to comfort the weeping girl. Hesitantly, he started to raise himself up from the bed, but as he did so his eyes locked with the tear-filled ones of the brunette, and he was unable to stop the words escaping from his lips. 'I really _do_ love you,' he whispered.

For a second, her eyes held his, and once again Lucas tensed himself for the explosion. But again, it never came. Instead, a loud sob escaped Brooke's throat and she flung herself into his arms, crying harder than ever.

His heart breaking, Lucas held her tight, letting her cry, kissing her forehead repeatedly, and murmuring apologies, until, finally, she relaxed in his arms and he knew she had cried herself to sleep. He knew he should leave, go back to Peyton, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do so. _Just a few more minutes_, he told himself, and closed his eyes.

'Oh my God, Mouth, you have to see this!' Rachel squealed excitedly as she ran back into the kitchen, brandishing her cell phone at him.

Laughing at her enthusiasm, Mouth took the phone from her and squinted at the screen. 'Uh, Rach, I'm sure this is all very exciting, but what is it?' he asked finally, unable to make out the dark images in front of him.

Rachel sighed exasperatedly and grabbed the phone back, examining the image for herself. 'Damn cell phones with no flash,' she muttered furiously, before stuffing the offending item back in her jeans pocket. 'Okay,' she continued, turning back to her friend, 'so, on my way back from the bathroom I thought I'd stop to check on Brooke, so I poked my head into our room. And what do I see?'

'I dunno,' Mouth shrugged in confusion, wishing Rachel would get to the point.

'Ugh, you're no fun Mouth,' the redhead complained. 'Oh well, I guess I'll tell you anyway. Brooke, asleep, in the arms of none another than Lucas Scott!' Mouth looked stunned, as Rachel continued to babble. 'Actually, they looked really cute, all tangled up together, her head on his chest, his arms around her…damn, how annoying that photo didn't come out, I would have _paid_ to see the look on Peyton's face if she saw that!'

Mouth rolled his eyes at his friend. 'Rach, you can't tell Peyton,' he pointed out, 'things between those three are screwed up enough as it is.'

Rachel smirked. 'And?' she questioned. 'It would be fun! But no, you're right, I wouldn't do that to Brooke, I'm not _that_ much of a heartless bitch.'

Mouth laughed. 'Don't let Haley hear you say that,' he joked, 'you'd ruin her expectations of you!' He paused for a moment, and then decided to ask his friend the question he had been pondering for a while now, ever since Brooke and Chase broke up. 'Do you think she's still in love with him?'

'Yep,' Rachel stated simply, her expression finally serious. 'But I can't tell about him, which one he loves. Can you?'

Mouth shook his head. 'Nope,' he admitted sadly, 'but I really hope he doesn't break her heart again, I'm not sure she could take it. Ugh, why are relationships so complicated?'

Rachel grinned. 'That, Mouth, is why you should do what I do, just move from one guy, well in your case girl, to the next. No broken hearts that way. But seriously though Mouth,' she continued, 'someone needs to find out what's going on in Lucas's head. I don't like to admit to having feelings, but if he hurts that girl again I'll kill him.'

And with that she turned and bounded off towards the spare bed in Mouth's room, leaving him to trail after her, worry evident in his eyes as he contemplated the situation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brooke yawned, and snuggled back down into her pillow, feeling safe and protected, until it slowly dawned on her that her pillow was actually rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. Lifting her head up slightly, she looked down and almost drowned in the beautiful blue eyes that were staring up at her.

'Hey pretty girl,' he murmured gently, letting one of his hands trace the contours of her face, and for a split second she wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss his soft lips.

But then reality kicked in, and Brooke jumped out of bed as though she'd been electrocuted. 'Luke, what are you still doing here,' she hissed furiously, 'what if someone sees you?' Her eyes flew to Rachel's bed. 'Goddammit, Rachel's bed hasn't been slept in, she must have come in and seen us, crap, I've got to find her, she can't tell Peyton…what, you think this is funny?' she demanded, spinning round to face Lucas who was chuckling in amusement at her desperate pacing.

'Uh, well, yeah,' he admitted. 'We haven't done anything wrong pretty girl, why so worried? Rachel won't tell Peyton, and if she does, I'll tell her that I came in here last night to apologise to you and fell asleep. Cheery, that's what happened,' he explained patiently, climbing out of the bed and placing his hands reassuringly on her arms.

She nodded uncertainly. 'Right, nothing wrong,' she echoed, nodding slightly, trying to force out the voice in her head that was repeating Lucas's words of the previous night. _I really do love you_. Shaking her head again in an attempt to clear it, she continued: 'Okay, you'd better go, its still early, maybe Peyton won't be awake yet and then we won't have to tell her anything. And I'll go find Rachel, tell her to keep her mouth shut. Yeah,' she nodded again and tried to step back from Lucas's arms, freezing in horror when he stopped her. 'Luke-' she gasped desperately.

'Brooke,' he mocked, and leant towards her. Unable to resist, she arched towards him, craving his touch, but his lips only brushed her forehead. 'I really am sorry pretty girl,' he whispered. And then he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, and thanks for all the great reviews : ) I'm glad no-one seems to have been disappointed by Brooke's reaction last chapter – a few people said that an alternative version could have been to have Brooke getting really angry, and that was my other thought, but I thought that might mean I'd end up repeating the same arguments over and over. But anyway, on to chapter four…this one's a bit of a filler, but I wanted to post something this week. Not to worry though, the drama will pick up in chapters five and six! **

**Chapter Four**

'Hush baby, we don't want to wake Mommy,' Nathan told his son as he tiptoed back inside the room he shared with his wife. It was still early, but Nathan had already been for his morning run, and had decided to pick up his son from Deb and Karen's cabin on the way back. Carefully, the young father eased himself into the comfy armchair by the bed, and, cradling the infant in his arms, tilted the bottle of warm milk at just the right angle, chuckling gently at the speed with which James latched onto the teat and began to suck greedily. 'Well, it looks like you got your mommy's appetite,' Nathan told his son with a smirk.

'Hey, I heard that!' Haley objected from the bed, opening her eyes and taking in the sight of her baby son cradled in his daddy's arms, 'but seeing as that's such an adorable sight to wake up to, I'll forgive you this once.' Yawning, the girl glanced at the clock on the bedside table and her nose wrinkled in confusion. 'Nate, umm, not that I don't love our son, but what's he doing here? Wasn't Deb going to bring him down to the beach with Karen and Lily later?'

Nathan shrugged, looking slightly bashful. 'Uh, well, I went for a jog, thought I'd pick him up on the way back,' he told his wife with feigned nonchalance.

She chuckled, knowing full well what had really happened. 'Aww, did you miss him Nate?' she teased, sliding out of bed and lifting the now happy baby into his arms. 'You've got Daddy whipped don'tcha little man,' she giggled, planting a kiss on his forehead.

The infant's father pouted, pulling Haley down onto his knee. 'Hey, you're supposed to be on my side,' he told the cooing baby, 'tell Mommy she's the one who's whipped!' James just gurgled, his big blue eyes smiling at both his parents who grinned at him in return.

'I think he agrees with Mommy,' Haley announced, kissing her husband in triumph. 'Hey, when you got up earlier, you didn't see if anyone else was up did you?' she continued, worry springing up inside her as she remembered the events of the night before.

'You mean Brooke?' Nathan asked, squeezing his wife's hand to reassure her.

Haley nodded distractedly. 'Mmmm, she was pretty upset last night, Lucas is such an ass sometimes.'

'Yeah, that wasn't one of his finer moments,' Nathan agreed. 'Look,' he continued, reading the concern in his wife's eyes, 'why don't you go see how she is? I'll get this little monster ready, and then get started on breakfast.'

Haley smiled at her husband, grateful that he hadn't dismissed her worries. 'Thanks baby,' she answered, passing James back to his daddy. 'Back soon angel,' she told the little boy, and slipped out of the room.

Minutes later, as Nathan fastened a clean diaper onto his son, she was back, concern etched deeper on her face. 'She okay?' Nathan asked concernedly.

'I dunno,' Haley replied uncertainly, 'I could hear voices so I didn't go in. She was talking to Peyton.'

Nathan pulled a face. 'Hmmm, wonder how that's gonna go,' he mused, snapping the last fastener on James's sleepsuit, before noticing just how worried his wife looked. 'Hales, don't worry,' he told her, carrying James over to where she stood and wrapping an arm around her. 'They'll work it out, they always do.' Haley nodded, and her husband smiled. 'Now, how about pancakes for breakfast?' he suggested, steering his wife towards the kitchen as she grinned and slipped her hand into his.

'Pancakes sound perfect.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'So,' Peyton began nervously, eyeing her friend, 'Lucas is an ass.'

The brunette grinned, and the blonde breathed a sigh of relief. 'Yup,' she agreed solemnly.

'Listen Brooke, I'm really sorry,' Peyton continued, 'he should never have said that to you.'

'Relax P. Sawyer,' Brooke reassured her friend, seeing the tense expression on Peyton's face, 'Lucas and I have said far worse things to each other, trust me. And besides, he's already apologised.'

'Okay,' Peyton nodded. 'So you guys are friends again now?'

Brooke pulled a face. 'I dunno, Blondie,' she answered honestly, 'he really hurt me, you know?' Catching sight of the pained expression on the other girl's face, she forced a smile and continued. 'But I guess I could forgive him, if only for the sake of my bestest friend in the world!'

Peyton laughed, relieved. 'Thanks Brooke,' she told her friend.

Brooke smiled back, glad to see her friend happy. 'No problem Goldilocks,' she grinned. 'Ho's over bro's, right?

'Right.' But Peyton's agreement did nothing to clear the tense atmosphere that remained in the room as the two girls considered Brooke's motto, and the ways in which they had both broken it. 'Okay, I'm gonna go get ready for the beach,' Peyton added, suddenly desperate to leave.

''Kay,' Brooke nodded, but before Peyton could leave the room she called her back: 'P. Sawyer?' Peyton turned and Brooke continued, 'I'm sorry too you know.' Peyton looked momentarily confused, so the brunette carried on, 'for what I said last night I mean. I didn't need to drag you into it, it was Lucas I was mad at, not you.'

Peyton nodded, finally understanding, and for a second the two girls held each other's gaze before the blonde girl broke the silence once again. 'It's never gonna be the same is it Brooke?' she asked sadly.

The brunette shrugged, not needing Peyton to explain her question. 'I dunno Pey,' she said at last. 'I hope so, but…' her words trailed off and the blonde nodded.

'Yeah,' she agreed, almost silently, and then slipped out of the room, closing it quietly behind her.

Brooke lay back on her bed, a sole tear trickling down her cheek. 'Yeah,' she echoed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Ugh, you'd think I could find a hot guy somewhere on this beach to put sun tan lotion on my back,' Rachel whined. 'No offence Brooke, but you doing it isn't really turning me on.'

Haley rolled her eyes as Brooke laughed and continued rubbing the cream into her friend's back, scooting closer as she did so. 'Maybe this will help,' she purred, adopting a husky voice and whispering seductively into Rachel's ear, pushing her breasts against the redhead's back as she did so.

'Eww,' Rachel squealed, moving away from her friend in mock horror. 'Davis, I know you're desperate and I know I'm a whore, but even I wouldn't sleep with you!'

'Aww, dammit,' Brooke pouted, still speaking in as sexy a voice as she could manage, 'and there was me thinking sharing a room with the horniest girl in North Carolina would have some advantages…oww!' This last screamed in shock as the bottle of water Rachel had been holding flew over the small section of beach towel now separating the girls and emptied itself over Brooke's front. 'Oh, you are so dead Gattina,' she cried and launched herself on the other girl, tickling her mercilessly.

'Aaargh, get off me!' Rachel screamed as the water she had just soaked Brooke with dripped onto her. 'Fine, if you're that desperate I'll sleep with you! Just stop tickling me!'

'Okay, what have I missed?' Nathan asked his brother. 'When Mouth and I left to go get ice-creams everything was quiet, and now Rachel and Brooke are performing live sex shows?'

Lucas half-smiled, only semi-aware of his brother's presence as he watched the two girls wrestle. Or rather, watched one of them. Brooke had been overpowered by her taller friend and was now trapped beneath Rachel, giggling helplessly as the redhead threatened her with a bottle of sun tan lotion. Lucas shook his head sharply, trying to erase the desire to be in Rachel's position, and glanced back at his brother. 'Yeah,' he nodded quietly.

'Yeah what?' Nathan wondered, but received no response. Sighing, he passed Lucas an ice-cream cone and wandered towards the two girls, realising that his brother was in no mood to be disturbed. 'Here,' he offered, waving the ice-creams at them, 'think you can stop that long enough to eat these before they melt? Or,' he shrugged, ' you could always _use _them…'

'Nathan!' Haley interrupted her husband sharply, and he chuckled, making his way over to his wife and planting a kiss on her lips before handing her an ice cream.

'Yeah, Nathan, that's just…eww,' Brooke, now free from her position beneath Rachel wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Rachel laughed in disbelief. 'Davis, much though I hate to stick up for boy toy over there, after he rejected me and all, how can you possibly say _eww_ to that? Come on, you were practically humping me there! Man, you need to get laid!'

'Hey!' Brooke objected, 'I do not! And anyway,' she added, lapping at her ice-cream cone as she spoke, 'getting laid isn't that great anymore. I mean, most guys? They just don't know what they're doing. It's less hassle just to do it myself.'

'Brooke!' Haley and Peyton let out twin squeals of disgust at the brunette's comment and she giggled loudly.

'Yeah, okay, that's enough Davis,' Rachel agreed with the other girls. 'TMI there, I've already seen you brooking yourself once remember? It's really not an image I want!'

'Oh shut up,' Brooke mumbled good-naturedly, grimacing at the reference to the embarrassing events of their trip to Rachel's cabin almost a year earlier. 'And that was your own fault anyway, bedrooms have doors for a reason.'

'It was the middle of the day, Brooke,' Rachel retorted. 'Who gets that horny that it can't wait for a more appropriate time?'

Brooke shrugged, blushing slightly. 'It wasn't my fault,' she whined, hoping the teasing would stop, 'it was…' her voice trailed off as her eyes met Lucas's, and Brooke's cheeks turned an even deeper scarlet as the two remembered exactly _why_ Brooke had been so aroused that afternoon. 'Yeah, okay,' the brunette changed the subject rapidly, trying to regain her composure, 'so, P. Sawyer, did you bring a CD player out with you? I could really do with some of your wrist-slashing music right about now.' Laughing, the blonde girl nodded and flicked a switch, and a split second later the group was quiet as Dashboard Confessional's _Ghost of a Good Thing_ filled the air.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Always when we fight _

_I try to make you laugh _

_'Til everything's forgotten _

_I know you hate that_

Brooke groaned silently as the familiar bars of The Wannadies's _You and Me Song_ filled the air.

'Oh I love this song,' Haley squealed excitedly, 'turn it up Pey!'

Peyton happily obliged, and a second later her voice mingled with Haley's as the two _ba-ba-ba'd_ along with the CD player.

'Come on Brooke,' Peyton poked her gently with an outstretched foot, 'you love this song.'

'Uh, yeah, it's great,' she mumbled, glad that her dark sunglasses hid the truth in her eyes. Sitting up slightly she caught Lucas watching her sadly, and she knew he was remembering all the times she had forced him to listen to this, claiming it was the only one of his CDs she could stand. So many times they had lain together, Brooke singing along to all the verses, Lucas joining in on the chorus, the two of them certain that the words fit them perfectly.

_And it's always _

_You and me always, and forever_

_You and me always, and forever_

_Ba ba ba ba da ba ba, it was always_

_You and me, always _

'So much for that,' Brooke muttered under her breath, kicking the sand moodily with one foot.

'Huh?' Peyton paused her singing for a second and glanced at her friend.

Brooke shook herself, forcing a smile for Peyton. 'Nothing Blondie, I just stubbed my toe,' she tried. 'Ooh,' she continued excitedly, catching sight of three familiar figures approaching from the other end of the beach and scampering to her feet, 'Karen and Deb are here with Lily!' and she ran off, desperate to escape the sound of The Wannadies who were still _ba-ba-ing_ away.

'Lily!' Brooke cried, grabbing the infant out of her mother's arms, 'hello gorgeous,' she cooed excitedly, 'aren't you getting big?'

Karen laughed, as Deb wandered off in search of her grandson. 'Hi Brooke,' she told the younger girl, who looked up guiltily.

'Oops, sorry Karen,' she apologised, giving her a hug, 'don't mind me, I'm just stealing your daughter. She's so cute!'

The older woman smiled at Brooke's enthusiasm. 'Well she won't be soon,' she commented wryly, 'it's almost time for her feed, and she gets grouchy when she's hungry.'

'Ooh, can I feed her?' Brooke asked, eyes lighting up at the prospect.

'Sure,' Karen smiled, 'lets just take her over to those trees over there, it's too hot for her out in the sun.'

Happily, Brooke followed Karen to the aforementioned section of the beach and settled Lily into her lap to give her her bottle, chattering merrily to the little girl as she did so. 'Hey Lily,' she told the child, who paused her suckling for a second to lock her blue eyes with Brooke's green ones, 'aww, look at those eyes, you're gonna be a heartbreaker when you're big.'

'Just like her brother,' Karen noted, smiling as she watched the two.

'Yeah,' Brooke grimaced for a second, trying to hide the spark of recognition that came with Karen's statement, 'but at least you're not blonde,' she continued, fingering the baby's barely-there dark locks. 'And listen Lily-bub, no matter what anyone tells you, blondes don't have more fun, trust me,' she winked, causing Karen to laugh, half –amused, half-horrified.

'Uh, Brooke, no offence, but I'm not sure I want my daughter to have the type of fun you're talking about,' the older woman laughed.

'Hmmm, good point,' Brooke agreed. 'Well, okay, she can be me without the drinking and the sleeping around. Oh and the cheating, either on tests or with my best friend's boyfriend…yeah,' Brooke sighed, looking down at the innocent blue eyes that seemed to hang on every word. 'Oh, who am I kidding baby,' she whispered, 'don't be like me. You'll have Auntie Haley around to copy. And Auntie Peyton, well, maybe she'll be your sister-in-law by then,' a lump emerged in Brooke's throat and she swallowed hard before carrying on, 'they'll make much better role models.' Lily appeared to contemplate this for a second, before letting out a small burp.

Karen grinned, amused by her baby's apparent attempt to communicate with Brooke. 'Clearly she doesn't want Auntie Peyton as a sister-in-law,' she joked, noting the smirk that spread across Brooke's face at her words.

'Nope, guess not,' she chuckled, 'but can I be there when you tell Luke that Lily-bub?' Glancing up, she saw Lucas's familiar form jogging over to them. 'Maybe you could tell him now?' she suggested to the infant, who cooed delightedly. 'It would be a great time for your first words…'

'Hey Ma,' Lucas interrupted the trio, bending down to kiss his mother's cheek before turning to the girl currently cradling his sister. 'What are you teaching my sister?' he asked suspiciously.

Brooke smirked. 'Nothing,' she answered innocently, 'Lily and I were just checking out those surfers…I think they're pretty hot, but Lily prefers bikers.'

Karen laughed, amused by the pained expression on her son's face. 'Relax Lucas,' she told him, 'she's only joking.'

Lucas rolled his eyes, only half-believing his mother. 'Remind me never to let you anywhere near my kids,' he muttered to Brooke, settling himself on the sand next to her and reaching over to chuck his sister under the chin.

'Aww, and I remember not too long ago you wanted me to _have_ your kids,' Brooke joked feebly, but not able to fully disguise the pain in her voice. For a second the two held each other's gaze, the tension between them clear to the watching Karen.

'Brooke…' Lucas tried, mentally kicking himself for his thoughtless words, but she just smiled sadly, passing Lily back to Karen and getting to her feet.

'Don't worry Luke,' she told him, forcing her bubbly persona back to the surface, 'we both know P. Sawyer will want me as godmother, so your kids won't miss out on Brooke Davis corruption.' The blond boy nodded, trying to match her fake enthusiasm but failing. The tension hung in the air between them for a second more, broken only by a shout from Rachel for Brooke to go and rejoin the group, which, with one final kiss on Lily's forehead, she did.

Karen watched her son as he gazed wistfully after the brunette and sighed. 'I dunno, Lily,' she whispered, 'what are we gonna do with them?' But the baby only gurgled in reply, not knowing the answer any more than Karen did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone, and thanx for the reviews – I get really excited whenever I get one, so I want you to know I really appreciate it! Especially to those of you who have reviewed every chapter : ) Anyways, here goes Chapter Five – let me know what you think! **

**Chapter Five**

'Luke!' Nathan shouted angrily at his brother several hours later. 'What are you doing man? You're supposed to hit the ball, not let it hit you!'

On the other side of the net, the four girls high-fived one-another, congratulating Peyton for the shot that had caught her boyfriend off-guard and smacked him on the side of the face. 'Well, well,' Brooke taunted, 'I do believe that makes it ten-nine to the girls.'

'Cheating at math again Brooke?' Nathan smirked, 'there's no way you're beating us. It's nine each.'

'Hey, cheap shot!' Brooke complained, sticking her tongue out at the younger Scott as the others laughed.

'She's right though Nate,' Haley added, shooting a look of fake sympathy at her husband. 'Ten-nine. You're losing to a bunch of girls!'

'Yeah, well, I'm _playing_ with a couple of girls too,' Nathan muttered angrily, glaring at his brother. 'And there's less of us,' he complained, as the girls continued to laugh, 'really you should have expected to win.'

The girls laughed harder. 'Because we clearly _look_ like world-class volleyball players do we Nate?' Peyton mocked, gesturing to the four bikini clad girls. 'I can just see us in the next Olympics: Haley pushing a pram on court, Brooke making sure our nail polish matches our uniforms, Rachel screwing the umpire…'

'Hey!' Rachel objected, before being hit with six equally withering glances. 'Okay, maybe,' she concurred, 'but only if he was really hot.'

Nathan rolled his eyes. 'Well you know what I mean,' he countered. 'I'm playing with a sports announcer and a heart-attack candidate here, and you lot are all cheerleaders. You're all, I dunno, flexible and stuff.'

'Well you would know,' Mouth teased, 'you've slept with most of them!'

Lucas and Rachel burst into laughter as Nathan looked affronted. 'That was mean,' he protested feebly. 'And anyway, it's not my fault if no-one can resist _the_ Nathan Scott.'

'Eww,' Brooke groaned, as Haley mock-glared at her husband and the other girls giggled, 'you sound like Tim!'

'Ugh, whatever,' Nathan made a face and picked the ball up, 'lets just finish the game.'

'Actually,' an unfamiliar male voice jumped in, 'we were wondering if we could maybe join in?' The group turned to face the voice and came face to face with four college-age guys, all tanned, toned, and topless.

'Hell yeah,' Rachel responded immediately, moving closer to one of the guys and holding her hand out to shake his. 'Hi, I'm Rachel…' she purred.

'…and I'm _friendly_,' Haley muttered to Peyton, who snorted with laughter.

'Sure man,' Nathan agreed amiably, 'we could use some decent players,' he added, sending yet another glare in Lucas's direction.

'Thanks man,' the guy responded. 'Uh, well, I'm Ryan, and these two are Rhys and Joel. And that,' he added, gesturing to the fourth boy, who was by now totally engrossed by Rachel, 'is Travis, but it doesn't look like we're going to get much sense out of him for a while,' he smirked.

Nathan grinned. 'Yeah, Rachel tends to have that effect on men,' he noted, hastily qualifying that statement after a pointed stare from his wife. 'I don't mean on _me_, Hales,' he added worriedly, scowling as Lucas made the sound of a cracking whip and the others laughed. 'Anyway,' he continued, slipping his arm around Haley's waist,' this is Haley, my wife, my brother Lucas, and Mouth, Peyton, and Brooke.'

'Hey,' the guys grinned in return. 'So,' Rhys asked, 'you guys play basketball?'

'Yeah, well, Nate and I do,' Lucas answered. 'Tree Hill Ravens.'

'Wow, you guys won State, right?' Ryan nodded his head, obviously impressed.

'Yeah,' a hint of pride was evident in Nathan's voice as he took up the story. 'It was a close run thing but-'

He was cut off by an impatient Brooke. 'Yeah, yeah,' she butted in, clearly unimpressed by the direction the conversation was taking, 'we were, I dunno, lots of points down, and then made some fantastic comeback, and Broody here scored an awesome three-pointer in the last second, and, yeah, that's it, topic exhausted.' She smiled sweetly before adding a final remark: 'personally, I thought the cheerleaders gave the performance of the night.'

Ryan grinned at the brunette as Lucas and Nathan rolled their eyes. 'So you're a cheerleader huh?' he asked, looking Brooke over appreciatively.

She nodded, giving him a flirtatious smile that showed off her dimples. 'Yup,' she confirmed.

'Maybe you could show me a cheer sometime?' Ryan suggested, obviously entranced by the girl, before realising how stupid his proposal had probably sounded. 'I mean,' he clarified nervously, 'I bet it's really demanding, all those, uh, flips and splits and stuff…' he trailed off awkwardly and Brooke grinned.

'Sure,' she agreed easily. 'But it's really not that difficult, I'm pretty flexible, right Nate?' she smirked at Nathan, remembering his earlier comment and he groaned.

'Ugh, that's so not what I meant Brooke,' he muttered as she giggled at the look of discomfort on his face. 'Oh never mind,' sighing he shook his head and picked up the ball from where it had fallen after the last game, 'let's just pick teams.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Nice shot tutor-girl,' Brooke applauded as her friend volleyed the ball just out of Peyton's reach.

'Yup, my wife is awesome,' Nathan agreed, kissing the top of her head as she grinned up at him.

'So, is that eight-two to us now?' Brooke taunted their opponents laughingly. 'Hmm, maybe we should go in for the Olympics after all, what do you say Hales?'

'Well it's not fair,' Ryan pouted, 'how I am I possibly supposed to concentrate on hitting a stupid ball over the net when there's a beautiful girl directly in my line of vision.'

Brooke dimpled prettily, moving closer to the net where Ryan was standing. 'Well maybe I should come a little closer,' she purred, 'see if I can distract you even more.'

Ryan grinned, watching her. 'Yep,' he confirmed, his blue eyes locking with hers, 'I'm definitely fully distracted now.'

'Davis, that's cheating,' Rachel protested loudly, 'you can't just take our players out of the game like that.'

Brooke shrugged. 'It's not my fault I'm irresistible,' she pointed out, as Nathan rolled his eyes at her lack of modesty. 'But if it makes you feel better, I'll give my new boy-toy an incentive to win.' Smirking, she turned back to Ryan, licking her lips seductively. 'For every point you win, you get to taste a different part of me,' she murmured quietly.

Ryan smiled. 'But what happens if you win?' he teased in return, his voice husky as the thought of his lips on her flesh lingered in his mind.

A small smile crept onto Brooke's lips as she contemplated this for a second. 'Well, then I guess I get the prize,' she answered slowly, her eyes darkening with desire as they met Ryan's.

'Can we get on with the game now?' Lucas's voice broke the spell. 'You can fuck her in your own time,' he told the other boy harshly.

'Luke!' Peyton gasped at her boyfriend's words, but he just shrugged angrily and threw the ball into the air.

Ryan kinked his eyebrows questioningly at Brooke as the ball flew back and forth above their heads. 'Ignore him,' she whispered, her eyes filled with a mix of concern and anger as she watched her former boyfriend smack the ball over the net, narrowly avoiding hitting Haley. 'He's just an ex,' she explained dismissively.

_Just an ex_. Anger rose in Lucas's heart as Brooke's words reverberated in his mind. The ball flew towards him, and in a split second his mind was made up. _Thwack_. He hit the ball firmly and cleanly and with perfect aim. It hit Ryan squarely in the face and the boy gave a grunt of pain. Satisfied, Lucas allowed himself the smallest hint of a smile, before permitting the shocked expressions of his friends to register. 'Whatever,' he muttered, before turning and heading up the beach back towards the cabin.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Lucas Eugene Scott!' Lucas sighed as the cabin door burst open and an angry Haley James Scott stormed in, glaring at him.

'Good to see you too Hales,' he muttered sarcastically, pretending to be engrossed in the book in his lap. 'Ow!' he looked up suddenly, as a pillow hit him firmly across the forehead.

'A volleyball to the face would hurt a damn sight more,' Haley pointed out, crossing her arms and staring at her friend.

Lucas sighed. 'It was an accident…' he tried, but a snort of disbelief from his long-time best friend cut him off.

'Yeah right Luke,' she told him, 'I watched you do it. You deliberately smacked that ball into Ryan's face and I want to know why.'

The blond boy shrugged. 'He was annoying,' he murmured petulantly, sticking out his lower lip like a child.

Haley rolled her eyes. 'Because he was flirting with Brooke?' she asked, but was met with stony silence. 'Or because Brooke was flirting back?'

'Brooke can do what she likes,' Lucas retorted. 'I'm with Peyton, remember?'

'How could I possibly forget?' Haley replied in a voice laced with sarcasm. 'But then explain this to me Luke, if you don't care what Brooke does, then why the hell did you deliberately assault that poor guy, when all he'd done was _talk_ to the poor girl?'

Lucas shrugged again, refusing to meet Haley's eyes. 'She's too good for him,' he answered finally.

Haley nodded. 'Well yeah, you're probably right there,' she conceded. 'But then again she was too good for you as well, so…'

'Oh well thanks a lot Hales,' Lucas raised his voice slightly, anger clear within it. 'Nice to know you think so highly of your so-called best friend!'

Haley let out a frustrated groan. 'Listen to me Lucas Scott,' she scolded the boy in front of her, 'I love you, you know that, but I will _not_ stand by and watch you break that girl's heart again, got it?'

'How am I gonna break her heart Hales?' Lucas retorted. 'Shouldn't you be giving the overprotective mother-hen speech to our beachside Romeo? Brooke is nothing to do with me any more, I love Peyton!'

Haley rolled her eyes, realising that she had no chance of getting through to her friend. _Men_, she thought angrily. 'Fine, Luke, whatever you say,' she said out loud, before spinning on her heel and returning to the beach to join the others, shaking her head in disbelief at how obtuse the boy was.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Are you sure you don't want us to wait for you Brooke?' Mouth asked his friend as he and Rachel prepared to leave for the party that Ryan and his friends were throwing.

'No, its fine,' Brooke told him; smiling reassuringly from her place on the couch, where baby James lay happily in her arms. 'Nathan and Haley will be back from their walk soon, and then I'll get dressed and come and join you guys.'

'Wear your red dress,' Rachel ordered, bouncing into the living room, dressed to kill in a short, backless, black dress. 'It shows off your cleavage. Lover-boy won't know what's hit him.'

Brooke rolled her eyes. 'You know Rach, as a designer of a successful clothes line, you'd think I'd be able to choose my own clothes,' she pointed out affably.

Rachel shrugged. 'Fine, wear what you like,' she replied, propping one foot up on the arm of the sofa as she fastened her shoe. 'But if you want to get laid you'll follow my advice. Guys like things to be obvious.'

'Well that explains your outfit then,' Brooke taunted in return, as the redhead stuck her tongue out in response.

'Just because your fat ass wouldn't fit into this dress,' Rachel countered, fastening her other shoe, 'but don't worry Davis,' she continued, 'I'm sure some nice boy will find it in their heart to give you a sympathy screw.'

'Aww,' Brooke clutched her hand to her heart in mock gratitude, 'you're too kind Rach.' Grinning, she turned to Mouth who was waiting impatiently, 'okay, you can go now, we've finished bitching,' she told him. 'I'll see you later…and maybe you too,' she added to Rachel, 'although I won't count on it, I fully expect you to be flat on your back by the time I get there.'

'Bye Brooke,' Mouth rolled his eyes, and, grabbing Rachel's arm, he led her out the door before she could make a comeback.

'See you later, slut!' the redhead's voice floated in the air as the door slammed behind the two.

Chuckling, Brooke smiled down at the baby cradled in her arms. 'Well, guess it's just the two of us,' she told him, as he looked up at her wide-eyed. 'Yup, mommy and daddy have gone for a walk, and Auntie Rachel and Uncle Mouth have gone to a party. And,' she made a face, 'Uncle Lucas has taken Auntie Peyton out for dinner. Isn't that sweet?' the sarcasm dripped from her voice, and baby James cooed in seeming agreement.

Brooke laughed. 'Well, what do you want to do now?' she asked the infant. 'You could help me get ready for the party? Or we could sample all the different flavoured vodkas Rachel brought? Or I could tell you about all the naughty things your mommy and daddy have done? No? You don't think mommy would like that?' Brooke sighed, pretending to contemplate the possibilities as James watched her worriedly. 'I know,' she exclaimed triumphantly, tickling the little boy's tummy, 'I'll tell you a story.'

James gurgled delightedly and, taking this as a sign of encouragement, Brooke began. 'Once upon a time,' she paused for a second, as the baby stared up at her, waiting to be entertained, 'there was a handsome Prince named…Lucas.' James cooed, and Brooke chuckled. 'Yup, that's right,' she told him, 'just like your uncle. Anyway,' she continued, 'in the kingdom where Prince Lucas lived, there also lived a beautiful peasant girl named Brooke. Now Brooke thought Prince Lucas was very attractive, but she didn't know how to get his attention. So, one day, she broke into his car, and took all her clothes off.' James's eyes widened and Brooke giggled.

'But anyway,' she carried on, 'Prince Lucas wasn't like most of the boys Brooke knew, and so he didn't do what she had expected and have S-E-X with her right away. Instead, they got to know each other, and eventually went on a date, where Prince Lucas ended up getting drunk and getting a tattoo. But it didn't stop him from liking the peasant girl and so they spent a lot more time together. And before she knew it, Brooke was in love.'

Brooke sighed, hating the next part of the story, but knowing she would tell it anyway. 'Prince Lucas's mother, Queen Karen, had been away in Italy, and she was due to come back so the Prince went with his Uncle, Prince Keith, to pick her up from the airport. But on the way there, there was a terrible car crash and the Prince nearly died. Brooke was very upset, and scared her Prince might not get better, but he did. The only problem was, he decided that he didn't want to be with Brooke anymore, and it wasn't long before she found out why. You see,' Brooke told the infant, 'Brooke had a beautiful friend, Princess Peyton, and she loved the Prince nearly as much as Brooke did. And the Prince loved her back, and so the two of them cheated on Brooke, and broke her heart.'

A tear sprang to Brooke's eye as she remembered the events of which she spoke, and James grabbed her finger with his chubby hand and squeezed it comfortingly. She smiled down at him, and continued. 'Anyway, for a long time after that, Brooke hated Prince Lucas and Princess Peyton, but eventually she forgave them and they became friends again. And then, Prince Lucas realised he really did love Brooke, and he told her so. But she was confused, and scared of getting her heart broken again, and so she did some silly things, like having S-E-X with C-H-R-I-S K-E-L-L-E-R.' Seeing the quizzical expression on James's face Brooke smirked. 'Trust me angel, they're bad words,' she told him, 'just ask your daddy.'

'Now where was I?' she asked the infant who gurgled in response. 'Ah yes, that's right,' she remembered, 'Brooke was pushing Prince Lucas away. But the Prince forgave Brooke for her mistake and for a while the two were happy together. And then something terrible happened. A boy, who was very messed up, took a shotgun into school and accidentally shot Princess Peyton in the leg. She managed to escape to the library, and that's where Prince Lucas found her. He looked after her, but the Princess was scared she might die and so she told the Prince her secret, that she loved him, and they kissed.'

'Prince Lucas managed to get Princess Peyton out of the school safely, but not everyone was so lucky,' Brooke told the baby sadly. 'Jimmy, the boy with the gun, was so upset about what he had done he shot himself. And the Prince's father, Evil King Dan, he killed his brother, Prince Keith. Prince Lucas found his uncle's death very difficult, and he pushed Brooke away when she tried to help him, and she didn't know what to do. She kept trying, and trying, and eventually gave up. And then, the day before the Prince's brother Nathan was due to marry his beautiful wife Princess Haley,' James kicked his legs excitedly and Brooke smiled. 'Yep, that's mommy and daddy,' she agreed, before continuing, 'Princess Peyton told Brooke that she was still in love with the Prince.'

Brooke sighed again, lifting James higher and holding him tight, drawing comfort from his warm body. 'So, obviously Brooke was very upset,' she told the little boy, who nodded in understanding. 'She told Princess Peyton that they could never be friends again, and she told Prince Lucas not to talk to the Princess. But the Prince was confused, because he didn't know what had happened, and so he accidentally told Brooke about the time he had kissed Princess Peyton in the library, and of course Brooke got even more upset. Eventually, she decided that Prince Lucas didn't really love her or need her in the same way that she loved him, and so she told him that their relationship was over. Prince Lucas was upset at first, but after a while he realised he still loved Princess Peyton and so they got back together and lived happily ever after. And Brooke the peasant girl? Well she was left all alone.'

James let out a small sigh and Brooke grinned ruefully, realising her story had thoroughly depressed the infant. 'Well okay,' she countered, 'maybe that isn't the whole story. Brooke did become friends with the Princess again, after she forgave her for falling in love with the Prince, and after Princess Peyton forgave Brooke for having S-E-X with…actually,' Brooke hesitated, glancing at the little boy in her arms, 'I don't think mommy would want you to hear that bit. Lets just say Princess Peyton and Brooke were friends again. And Brooke wasn't really alone either. She had the two Princes and the Princesses, and her other friends Rachel and Mouth. But sometimes,' Brooke caught the glimmer of disbelief in James's eyes and corrected herself, 'okay, most of the time, Brooke found herself missing Prince Lucas and wishing more than anything that he still loved her.'

Outside the door, Nathan and Haley stared at each other in shock. Nathan was the first to speak. 'Brooke the peasant girl?' he smirked, as his wife shook her head.

'This isn't good,' she told him, worry evident in her eyes. Nathan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, dropping a reassuring kiss on her forehead.

'She'll be okay,' he stated and Haley nodded, trying to convince herself that her husband was right. But as the two listened to their friend chattering away to their baby son, neither could claim to have much faith in Nathan's words.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Brooke?' Haley gently pushed open the door to the room Brooke and Rachel shared and stuck her head round.

'Hey tutor-girl,' the brunette answered distractedly, concentrating on applying a layer of mascara to her already dark lashes, 'what's up?' she added, putting the wand down and turning to her friend who stood awkwardly watching.

'Umm, nothing,' Haley hesitated, not sure how best to approach the subject. 'Are you okay Brooke?' she finally blurted out.

Brooke laughed. 'Yeah Hales, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?' she asked, confusion creeping into her voice as she studied the worried expression on the other girl's face.

'Well, umm, its just,' Haley took a deep breath, 'Nathan and I, we were standing out on the porch before and, well, we heard the story you were telling James, and…' her voice trailed off and she glanced up at Brooke uncertainly.

A stunned silence filled the room as Brooke stared at her friend for a second, her mind racing as she assessed how best to handle the situation. 'It was just a story tutor-girl,' she mumbled finally, picking up a lipstick and turning back to her reflection.

Haley sighed. 'Come on Tigger,' she told her friend, 'we both know it wasn't just a story. I've seen the way you are around him, how upset you were last night…you're still in love with him aren't you?'

A tear sprang to Brooke's eye as she considered her answer, and she brushed it away angrily. 'He's with Peyton now,' she replied calmly.

'That wasn't the question Brooke,' Haley pointed out firmly, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder as the two of them studied the brunette's reflection in the mirror in front of them.

'No, but that's still the answer,' Brooke said sadly. 'Lucas is with Peyton, and that's all that matters.'

'Brooke…' Haley tried, but her friend sprang to her feet, desperately avoiding the young mother's eyes.

'No Hales, just leave it,' Brooke stated firmly, pouring vodka into a glass and tipping the contents down her throat in one go, 'please.'

Haley shook her head, her heart breaking for the girl. 'You don't have to hide it from me Tigger,' she told her gently.

Brooke laughed, a harsh, humourless sound. 'Yeah, tutor-girl, I do,' she answered, her voice rising slightly. 'I have to keep it hidden, all of it. Because I won't do this to Peyton, I _won't_.'

'Brooke…' Haley trailed off, staring helplessly at her friend, who was clearly on the verge of breaking down, 'it's okay…'

'No, it's not okay!' Brooke shouted, emotion rising up inside her. 'It can't be okay, Hales, it wasn't okay when Peyton fell in love with Lucas, and it's not okay now that I'm still in love with him!'

The words hung between them as the two girls stared at one another in shock. And then, with a heart-rending sob, Brooke grabbed her purse and ran, slamming the door behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

**99 reviews! How awesome is that! Thanks again to you all! Okay, before I get to Chapter Six, I just wanted to warn you that it might be a little bit longer between updates from now on – not because I've lost interest or anything, but I'm in the middle of writing my MA dissertation and obviously I need to be concentrating on that. So sorry in advance for that, but I will keep posting, don't worry! Anyway, I've really struggled writing this chapter, I've had to change the scenes I had planned because I just couldn't write what I wanted to say, and I've finally just given up and decided to post anyway because otherwise I'll never get any further! Hopefully it isn't too disastrous. Oh, and finally, there is a sex scene in this part, so if this stuff offends you or you're too young or whatever, consider yourself warned! Thanks : )**

**Chapter Six**

"Brooke!" Hearing her name, the brunette spun round and a giggle escaped her lips at the sight of Mouth, leaning unsteadily against a wall with a cup of what looked like straight vodka in his hand.

"Hey Mouth," she grinned, giving her friend a hug. "You having fun?"

Mouth nodded. "Yup," he confirmed, draining the contents of his cup and slamming it down on the table beside him for emphasis. "But I think," he continued, drawing Brooke closer as though to tell her a secret, "I _think_, I might be a little bit drunk."

Brooke grimaced slightly; pulling away from her friend as the alcohol fumes on his breath overwhelmed her. "Yeah, I think you might be right there Mouth," she agreed, laughing as her friend let out a small giggle. "Hey, do you know where Rachel is?"

"Well she's not flat on her back yet, so guess that's one prediction you got wrong Davis," the redhead's amused voice came from behind Mouth, causing him to giggle again, whilst Brooke rolled her eyes.

"I do apologise," Brooke told her friend sarcastically, "clearly Clean Teens was a good influence on you."

"What can I say?" Rachel asked nonchalantly. "Maybe I could do the whole virgin thing after all."

Mouth smirked. "She's only saying that because Joel turned her down," he told Brooke conspiratorially.

"Whatever," Rachel made a face as her friends laughed. "I think he's gay anyway."

"I don't think so," Mouth sing-songed, gesturing down the beach slightly, to where Joel was pressing a pretty blonde up against the wall.

"Ugh," Brooke made a face as Rachel snorted in disgust. "What is with men and blondes?" she asked no one in particular.

Rachel shrugged. "I think it's the whole Barbie-doll thing," she opined, elaborating as her friends looked at her in confusion. "I mean," she explained, "pretty much all Barbies were blonde right?" Brooke nodded slowly, and Rachel continued with her theory, "and remember how easy it was to spread Barbie's legs?"

Brooke laughed, finally understanding her friend's somewhat warped logic. "Hmmm, so the men who prefer blondes are the ones who played with dolls when they were kids…interesting theory," she told her friend. "But I'm not really convinced."

"Well, okay, maybe it's not scientifically proven," Rachel conceded. "Although, how much fun would it be to tell Peyton that the only reason Lucas chose her was because he reminds her of a fake plastic doll?"

Brooke smirked. "Okay two problems with that though Rach," she told her friend. "One, I don't think you're in any position to call anyone fake and plastic, and two, much though I hate to admit it, I bet Luke managed to spread my legs far more easily than Peyton's. Let's face it," she continued, a cloud crossing her face, "if all Lucas wanted was an easy lay, he'd still be with me."

"Not that you care about who Lucas is with or anything," Rachel muttered darkly, wincing in pain as Brooke poked the sharp point of her shoe into her leg.

"I don't!" Brooke protested hotly, pushing her earlier confessions firmly to the back of her mind as the redhead rolled her eyes in disbelief. "I was just – wait, we weren't even talking about Lucas! We were talking about you getting blown off for some dumb blonde!"

"Yup, that we were," Rachel nodded solemnly. "And yet, somehow we're back on the never-ending love triangle. _Again_." She held up her hands in mock defeat as Brooke glared fiercely at her. "Okay, okay, truce. No more comments about who you may or may not be in love with. But, just in case you _do_ want to forget about something, there are plenty of hot guys here. And you know what they say, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else!" Cackling wickedly, Rachel drained her glass and, with one last smirk at Brooke, sauntered off in search of Travis.

"Remind me, why did I invite her again?" Brooke asked Mouth seriously.

He shrugged. "Because she's hot?" he suggested, slurring slightly, before pushing himself off the wall. "I need another drink," he mumbled, tottering unsteadily towards the house.

Brooke sighed, and turned to follow her friend. "Me too," she muttered. "Several, I think."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I really do love you… Sorry pretty girl…Fuck her in your own time._ Echoes of Lucas spun round in Brooke's head and she sighed, grabbing her glass and downing the contents in an attempt to make him disappear.

It didn't work. Brooke groaned in frustration. She had drunk enough to sink a ship, and yet none of her sorrows could be considered drowned. Scanning the room for her friends, she saw Rachel leading Travis upstairs. Catching her friends eye, she gave her an almost imperceptible wink. "Whore," she mouthed silently, but Rachel only grinned in response and scampered more quickly up the stairs. Sighing again, Brooke poured herself another drink and leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes.

"Hey you," Ryan's voice jolted her back into consciousness and she smiled at him. "So, you having a good time?" the boy asked, clearly concerned about her.

Brooke shrugged slightly, glancing up into his eyes, which shone in the same dazzling blue as Lucas's. _Dammit_, she cursed inwardly, downing her drink and slamming it down on the table next to her. Licking the traces of vodka from her lips, she remembered Rachel's earlier suggestion: _the best way to get over someone is to get under someone _else, and made her decision. "Not really," she told Ryan, moving closer to him and purring seductively, "but I'm sure that could change." Slipping her arms around the boy's neck she drew him down to her, kissing him hard, desperate to erase the ghosts in her head.

Ryan groaned into her mouth as she deepened the kiss yet further and she smiled, pulling away slightly to allow herself a smug smirk at the desire written across his face. "Come on," she murmured huskily, "let's go upstairs." Grabbing Ryan's hand, she pulled him in the direction of the empty bedroom she had spotted on the way down from the bathroom only minutes before.

Slamming the door behind them, Brooke pushed Ryan back against the door, kissing him even harder than she had before, grinding her body into his. "Brooke," he gasped, as she finally pulled away, but she only smirked, stepping further away from him and, with one fluid movement, slipping off her dress and allowing it to form a silken red puddle on the floor.

"Brooke…" Ryan moaned again, entranced by the perfect vision who stood before him, naked apart from the lacy red lingerie that had, she remembered as she stood there, been Lucas's favourite. _Lucas_. Brooke shook her head slightly, trying to force her former boyfriend out of her thoughts. "We don't have to do this you know," Ryan whispered, correctly reading the hesitation that had crossed her face.

Spying a bottle of whisky on the dresser, Brooke grabbed the bottle and gulped gratefully at the contents. Setting it back down, she locked eyes with Ryan who was watching her intently. "Oh yes we do," she told him firmly, unhooking her bra with on hand and slipping it off expertly, caressing her nipples as she did so.

Ryan nodded, unable to take his eyes off her. "Okay," he agreed.

"Good," she purred, taking his hand once more and leading him towards the bed. Pushing him down onto it, she straddled him, making quick work of unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off, before starting work on his trousers. "No," she whispered, as Ryan moved to take her nipple into his mouth. He looked up at her, confused, and she smiled, lifting herself up slightly and pulling down his trousers and boxers in one swift movement. Rolling over so that Ryan lay on top of her, she glanced once more into his eyes. "Just fuck me," she whispered desperately.

Understanding, Ryan slid his hand underneath the scrap of lace that separated the two of them, forcing two fingers inside her and grinning as she gasped in pleasure. Discarding the garment, he lay back on top of Brooke, adding another finger to those already inside her, moving them firmly in a steady rhythm. She moaned, writhing beneath him, and closed her eyes, losing herself in the sensations that vibrated through her body, and allowing herself to forget about the boy who had hurt her so badly.

Sensing her desperation, Ryan removed his fingers and positioned himself on top of the brunette, before driving himself into her. Brooke gasped at the feel of him, and he began to move in and out of her. "Harder," she whispered frantically, and he obliged, thrusting inside her faster, their bodies slamming together with every stroke, until at last the sensation overwhelmed the girl and she screamed out in relief as Ryan emptied himself into her.

Gasping, Brooke finally opened her eyes. "Luke," she whispered, as her green orbs met the dazzling blue ones hovering above her.

Ryan smirked. "You're more wasted than I thought," he observed, placing a quick kiss on her lips as he lifted himself off of her. "I'm Ryan, Luke's…" he paused for a second, remembering, "Luke's your ex right? The one who hit me with the volleyball?"

Brooke blushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry about that," she whispered.

The boy shrugged, slipping on his jeans and searching for his shirt. "No worries," he told her nonchalantly, locating the garment and pulling it on. "So, can we do this again?" he asked, moving towards the door.

Suddenly horribly conscious of her nakedness, Brooke grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around herself, sitting up slightly and looking over at Ryan, avoiding his gaze. "Umm, I don't think so," she muttered.

Ryan nodded easily, clearly unconcerned. "Okay," he told her, pulling the door open as he spoke, "well, it's been fun Brooke. I'll see you around."

"'Kay," she whispered to the door as it shut behind him. Lying back in the bed, Brooke considered herself for a moment and a tear sprang to her eye as she realised the similarities between her behaviour that evening and her behaviour on numerous occasions before she had first become involved with Lucas. The pattern was simple: get wasted, screw a stranger, repeat as necessary. But where once before Brooke had lain satisfied and uncaring after such encounters, she now felt herself fill with feelings of disgust and self-loathing. "I'm a whore," she told the empty room, the sounds reverberating off the walls and back to her, relaying the sentiment over and over again.

"Way to go man!" A voice Brooke recognised as belonging to Rhys came from downstairs.

"She was hot!" Another unfamiliar voice added to the mix, along with a host of catcalls and whistles. Burning with shame, the fragile girl realised that the voices were talking about her, and what she had just done with Ryan, and she sprang to her feet, clutching the sheet around her as though the disembodied speakers could see through the closed door. Desperately, she scrabbled for her clothes, pulling on her underwear and bra and slipping the red dress back over her head, hoping to cover the shame emblazoned on her skin.

Clutching her shoes in one hand, Brooke quietly slipped through the bedroom door, pushing through the throngs of drunken teenagers and finally escaping to the relative silence of the beach. Images of the day flickered through her mind and she quickened her pace as though to avoid them, but such a task was impossible: flirting with Ryan on the beach and Lucas's seemingly jealous reaction…her confession to James followed by the more dramatic one to his mother…Rachel's taunting…shot after shot of numerous spirits…seducing Ryan…Ryan's blue eyes that were perfect reflections of Lucas's…thoughts overwhelmed her. Finally, breaking into a frantic run towards the sanctuary of her own cabin, Brooke allowed the tears to fall.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Brooke!" Peyton gasped in embarrassment as her friend burst into the cabin. Quickly, she wriggled out from underneath Lucas, pulling her shirt back on as she did so.

"Hey P. Sawyer. Luke," Brooke muttered, forcing a smile onto her face as the curly blonde finished adjusting her clothing and grinned up at her. "Ummm, I'm gonna…" she gestured towards her bedroom but Peyton shook her head.

"No, stay," she ordered, "we want to hear all about the party, don't we Luke?"

"Yeah," Lucas mumbled unenthusiastically, slumping back onto the sofa without bothering to cover his naked torso, knowing full well he wasn't going to enjoy this conversation.

"Ummm, there's not much to tell," Brooke began, nervousness evident in her voice. "Mouth's incredibly drunk, Rachel's screwing…Travis? Is that his name?" Shaking her head in answer to her own question the brunette continued to babble, "so yeah, same old same old really."

"What about you?" Peyton asked, a drop of sadness tangible in her tone as she probed for information about a girl she had once been so close to. "Anything happen with Ryan?"

"Uh…" Brooke shifted nervously, desperately trying to avoid Lucas's penetrating stare.

Lucas snorted. "You fucked him, didn't you?" he asked, his voice calm, but as Brooke raised her eyes to meet his she caught the glimmer of anger cloud the blue.

"Luke!" Peyton nudged her boyfriend sharply, before turning to her friend. "You don't have to answer that," she told her.

Brooke managed a small smile. "It's fine Goldilocks," she reassured the other girl. "We're all friends now. And yes," she continued, turning to Lucas, "to use your words, I did fuck him. And, since you seem to have such an interest in my sex life, it was fantastic," she lied, swallowing the lump in her throat as she stared at her former boyfriend. "Oh, and his face is fine, thanks for asking," she tagged on sarcastically.

"It was just a volleyball," Lucas muttered darkly, averting his eyes from the fire in her green ones, trying to hide the jealousy that was rising up inside him as, unbidden, images of Brooke and Ryan together formed in his mind.

"So, are you seeing him again?" Peyton interrupted before Brooke could respond, obviously trying to diffuse the tension in the room.

Brooke shrugged with feigned nonchalance as Lucas moved closer to Peyton on the couch, placing a kiss on her neck as he snaked an arm around her shoulders, his eyes never leaving Brooke's as he did so. "I dunno," she answered, "probably not. I think I'm gonna stick to one night stands from now on, less pain that way. Although," she continued, focusing her gaze on Lucas, searching for a trace of emotion, "Ryan was hot…"

Peyton nodded in agreement. "Yup, he certainly was," she told her friend, before turning to Lucas. "Sorry baby," she purred, but Lucas only bent his head down towards her, kissing her passionately in what he knew was a childish attempt to irritate Brooke.

The blonde girl let out a small gasp and Brooke rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the sight before her and simply continue with the conversation as though Peyton was still paying attention. "Trust me Blondie," she said, forcing out a small giggle, "he looked even hotter naked."

Peyton tore her lips from Lucas's and grinned at her friend. "So why don't you see him again?" she suggested, pleased that she and Brooke seemed to be sharing things in the way they used to.

"I might," Brooke glared at Lucas over Peyton's head as he slipped his hands under the blonde's shirt and he smirked in response, knowing that Brooke's mind was filling with images of the many times he had teased her by stroking her stomach and back whilst her nipples ached for his touch. Shaking the images away, she continued speaking to Peyton, doing her best to ignore Lucas. "But you know what they say," she teased, "so many boys, so little time."

The blonde girl laughed, as Lucas rolled his eyes, biting on Peyton's neck again in an effort to block the jealousy increasing within him at Brooke's words, and failing miserably. "Ah good, the old Brooke Davis is back," he bit out sarcastically, earning himself another jab in the ribs from Peyton.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Brooke spat back, her green eyes flashing at the implications of his words.

Lucas shrugged. "Nothing," he grunted, "I was just saying, when I first met you that's what you were like, drinking too much, different guy every night…" he trailed off, raising his eyes to Brooke's, silently challenging her to deny his words.

"So you're saying I'm a whore?" she questioned, pain clear in her voice as she stared at her former boyfriend, all thoughts of Peyton gone from both of their minds as they glared at one another.

The boy shrugged again. "I didn't say that," he qualified, a tremor of guilt in his voice as he read the hurt in her eyes. "I just don't think that's any way to live, that's all. You'll only get hurt."

Brooke laughed, a shallow, harsh sound. "Unbelievable," she muttered, "you of all people are worried that I'll get hurt by a few one night stands?" The sarcasm cut through Lucas and he almost flinched as she continued, her voice rising with every syllable. "I tried the commitment thing, remember?" she asked furiously, "and let me tell you this Luke, in case you don't recall, _it didn't fucking work!_"

"So what?" he retorted, blocking the guilt that threatened to return. "So you're going to go around screwing every guy you meet so you never have to risk opening your heart again?"

"And what if I am?" Brooke shouted, all restraint lost as her eyes danced with rage and unshed tears, "what the _fuck_ has it got to do with you Lucas Scott?"

"It's got everything to do with me," he barked back equally angrily, disentangling himself from Peyton and standing up to face her, blue eyes never leaving green as he towered above her. "I care about you Brooke! Just because we're not together doesn't mean I don't care what happens to you!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" she screamed back, "if you cared about me we'd still be together, and we're not so you obviously don't, so just…" her voice trailed off as tears threatened to escape, but she managed to spit out an end to her sentence "just… shut up," she gasped weakly.

Lucas sighed in frustration. "Brooke…" he tried, but she shook her head, refusing to look at him.

"You okay Brooke?" Peyton got up from her place on the couch and moved over to the pair, pushing Lucas away so that she could get to the fragile girl who was urgently willing herself not to cry.

"Pey," Brooke gasped, realising at last that her friend was still in the room. "I'm sorry P. Sawyer," she murmured, guilt overwhelming her as she comprehended what she had come so close to admitting.

The blonde girl shook her head sympathetically, slipping an arm around Brooke. "It's not you who should be apologising," she told her, shooting an angry glare at Lucas. "Luke, apologise," she ordered.

Lucas rolled his eyes inwardly. "Fine," he muttered. "I'm sorry Brooke," he said, and as she looked up at him his heart broke to see the pain written across her face. "Really," he added genuinely, hoping she would understand.

A small half-smile crossed the brunette's face and she nodded. "It's okay Broody," she told him and he breathed out a sigh of relief at her use of his nickname. "Umm, listen," she continued, giving Peyton a quick squeeze before extricating herself from the girl, "I'm gonna get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay," Peyton smiled in agreement as her friend paused at the living room door, "night Brooke."

"Night," Brooke smiled quietly. "Night Luke," she murmured, glancing at the boy who stood behind Peyton.

He smiled softly. "Night," he whispered, and for a second she though he was going to finish his sentence by whispering "_pretty girl"_, as he had done every night during the time they were together. But the words never came, and, sighing inaudibly, Brooke slipped out of the room.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh God, Luke!" Rachel heard Peyton's moans coming from the room opposite hers as she tiptoed through the house on her return from the party.

"Never would have pegged the emo-queen as a screamer," she muttered, rolling her eyes to herself as she pushed open her bedroom door. Flipping on the small lamp beside her bed, she glanced over at the other bed and sighed. Brooke lay curled up, facing the window, but Rachel could tell from the shaking of her shoulders that the other girl was crying silently. "Brooke," she whispered, but there was no reply.

The redhead sighed. "Come on Brookie, I know you're awake," she coaxed, a little louder this time. "Hell, how could you not be with that racket going on," she continued, half to herself, as she unfastened her shoes and kicked them off.

"Really not helping there Rach," a muffled voice came from the other side of the room and Rachel glanced up in time to see Brooke's head emerge from the blankets, eyes red and tear-stained.

"Well it got a response, didn't it?" Rachel shrugged, slipping her dress over her head before turning fully and fixing her friend with a sympathetic gaze. "You want to talk about it?" she asked.

Brooke smirked. "Rachel Gattina, agony aunt. I never thought I'd see the day."

The redhead rolled her eyes, pulling a tank top and shorts out of a drawer and pulling them on. "Well that's the last time I offer you any sympathy Davis," she shot back, fake annoyance hiding her relief at the fact that the other girl had managed to crack a joke, feeble though it was.

Sitting up slightly, Brooke shrugged. "So how was Travis?" she questioned, clearly wanting to change the subject.

Rachel grinned, knowing what her friend was trying to do but deciding to humour her for a while. "He was okay," she replied nonchalantly, "I've had better, I've had worse, so…" she shrugged.

Brooke giggled, amused by her friend's outlook. "How's Mouth?" she asked, suddenly remembering the drunken state he had been in when she last saw him.

"Passed out on the couch," the other girl chuckled, "I practically had to drag him home. He did keep me entertained on the way back though, he was trying to decide who he wanted to be with most: you, me, Shelley, Gigi, or some girl named…Erica Marsh?"

Brooke nodded, answering Rachel's unasked question. "So what was the verdict?" she queried, a smile on her face as she imagined the scene.

"Well I won of course," Rachel responded smugly and Brooke rolled her eyes. "Although you were doing well for a while, but then I reminded him that if he went for you he'd end up embroiled in some love-square or something, so he picked me." Catching the look of pain cross Brooke's face at the mention of Lucas and Peyton, Rachel winced. "Sorry," she mumbled apologetically.

"It's fine," Brooke whispered bravely, but Rachel could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes once more and she sighed quietly. For a moment the two girls were quiet, the only sounds those of a creaking bed and Peyton's moans, which were increasing in volume by the second.

"Man, is he really that good?" Rachel wondered aloud, and the brunette laughed in spite of herself.

"Yup," she admitted, her expression clouding over again with a combination of sadness and lust as she remembered the numerous occasions where she had felt the same overwhelming ecstasy that Peyton was clearly feeling now.

The redhead sighed again as she watched her friend. "It'll be okay Brooke," she whispered, but the other girl shook her head, biting her lip hard as she tried and failed to prevent the tears from escaping. Carefully, Rachel moved over to the bed where the broken girl sat and slipped in beside her, wrapping her arms around Brooke as her sobs increased. "It'll be okay," she repeated, but as the two lay there neither one was convinced.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone, and thanks again for the reviews! Yep, Lucas is an ass! Anyway, I'm going to try and show a bit more of Peyton's feelings in the next couple of chapters…not that I care how she feels, but I figured it might make the story a bit less biased! For this chapter I want to give special thanks to ****B.Davis****who suggested a Lucas/Rachel scene way back in her review for Chapter Three…thanks for the idea and I hope you like it! And to the rest of you…enjoy!**

**Chapter Seven**

"Knock knock." Hearing Nathan's voice at the door, Brooke shot upright in bed, quickly brushing the tears from her eyes. "I come bearing coffee," the younger Scott brother announced, entering the room and moving over towards the bed, kicking the door shut behind him.

Brooke smiled gratefully, taking the steaming mug from Nathan's hands and taking a sip. "Thanks," she mumbled quietly, moving over slightly to allow Nathan to climb onto the bed next to her.

"So, do you want me to kick his ass?" Nathan asked.

Brooke laughed. "Whose?" she asked.

Nathan shrugged. "I dunno," he confessed. "Lucas's, Chase's, that guy from the beach's…"

"So basically you just want to kick someone's ass?" Brooke teased and Nathan chuckled in response.

"Well yeah," he admitted, pausing for a second before continuing. "Look, Haley told me about what you said yesterday, and I just wanted to let you know I'm here for you, 'kay?"

The brunette nodded, another tear springing to her eye as Nathan's words registered. For a second, silence hung in the air between them. "I slept with him," Brooke finally blurted out.

"With Luke?" Nathan's voice was shocked, and Brooke couldn't help but giggle.

"No, with Ryan," she told him, elaborating further when she noted the confused look on her friend's face, "the guy from the beach."

"Oh," Nathan nodded, unsure of what to say next.

"I was drunk, and I just wanted to forget, y'know?" Brooke continued, and he nodded again, letting her explain. "And Rachel said the best way to get over someone was to sleep with someone else, and…" she trailed off uncertainly, staring intently at her coffee mug as though it held the answer to some unasked question.

"And did it work?" Nathan asked gently. Once again there was silence, but this time it was broken by the ragged breathing of the girl beside him as she tried desperately to contain her tears.

"I'm a whore," she whispered finally, her voice breaking on the last word, and Nathan's heart went out to her.

"Brooke, that's not true," he tried, but stopped as she raised her eyes to meet his, the tears held back for now as she stared at him calmly.

"Yes it is," she stated matter-of-factly. "I slept with someone I only met yesterday and who I'm never gonna see again. That makes me a whore Nate."

Nathan sighed. "You're not a whore Brooke," he told her again, "you were just trying to stop hurting for a bit."

Brooke smiled sadly. "Doesn't matter," she whispered, "no matter how I excuse it, that's still what I am. It's why Chase broke up with me, it's why Felix used me for 'benefits'" she made air-quotes around the last word as she spoke and Nathan couldn't help but smile, "and," she continued fiercely, "it's why Lucas chose Peyton. Guys don't want girls who give it away Nate, they want a Haley or a Peyton, not a Rachel or a Brooke."

Nathan sighed again. "My brother's an ass," he announced contemplatively.

The girl giggled slightly, looking at him in confusion. "True," she conceded, "but I don't think that's the point tutor-dad."

Nathan rolled his eyes at the nickname, before continuing with his argument. "I thought he would fight for you," he told Brooke who nodded slightly, knowing immediately what he meant, "and when he didn't I thought he must really love Peyton, but he doesn't." Brooke looked at him, the uncertainty clear in her eyes, and Nathan continued. "He doesn't, Brooke. The way he looks at her, it's like the way he looks at Haley, like he wants to protect her. But you, you he looks at like you're some kind of goddess."

Brooke shook her head, refusing to believe Nathan's words. "He loves Peyton," she stated. "And even if he didn't, it wouldn't matter Nate. Because she loves him."

Nathan nodded, understanding Brooke's logic. Sighing again, he slipped an arm round the fragile girl and drew her to him. She relaxed against him, drawing comfort from his warm body, and for a moment there was silence as the two contemplated the events of recent days. "You know," Nathan paused for a second, a wicked grin on his face, "Rachel said she brought her video camera…"

"Eww!" Brooke squealed in outrage, pushing Nathan away from her before dissolving into helpless giggles. "Nathan, that's disgusting!"

Nathan laughed, and clambered off the bed. "Made you laugh though," he shrugged, moving towards the door.

Brooke nodded, still chuckling. "Thanks Nate," she told him seriously, and he smiled in return.

"You sure you don't need me to kick anyone's ass?" the boy asked, only half-joking.

"Nah," the brunette grinned. "And if I did, I think I'd go to your wife first. From what Rachel tells me Hales has got one hell of a bitch slap!"

"Good to know," Nathan smirked, before pulling the bedroom door open and stepping out into the hall. "I'll see you later Brooke," he added, giving her one last smile and shutting the door behind him.

"Later boy toy," Brooke called from her place on the bed, collapsing back onto her pillow, a genuine smile finally on her face.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ugh," Rachel muttered, storming into the living room and grabbing a mug of coffee out of Lucas's hand, draining the contents in one gulp.

"Good morning to you too Rachel," the boy commented dryly, reaching over and pouring himself another mug of the steamy liquid. "Heavy night?"

Rachel glared at Lucas in response. "Just didn't sleep well," she growled.

Lucas kinked his eyebrows. "Travis kept you up all night did he?" he queried sarcastically.

"Actually, no," the redhead responded sharply, once again removing the coffee from his grip and taking a sip, "Brooke did."

"Brooke?" the boy frowned quizzically, as Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Brooke," she told him, "you know her, brown hair, green eyes, decent figure if you like fat chicks…"

"Haha, I know who Brooke is," Lucas groaned at her sarcasm. "What I meant is, why did she keep you up all night?"

Rachel snorted. "You really are clueless aren't you?" she asked rhetorically. Seeing that the boy's expression remained blank she exhaled exasperatedly and continued. "Okay, I'll spell it out for you. You and Peyton have incredibly noisy sex that, quite frankly, would have upset anyone who had to listen to it, whilst your ex-girlfriend is in the next room…see where I'm going with this?"

"Okay, so maybe we were a bit noisy," Lucas admitted, "but I still don't get why that meant you and Brooke were both up all night? It's not as though Brooke cares that we're sleeping together, hell, she was screwing that dick from the beach last night!"

Rachel shook her head, disbelief clouding her expression. "Here," she told him, pulling her phone out of her pocket and, after pressing a few keys, tossing it to him.

Lucas squinted at the screen, uncertain of what he was supposed to be seeing. "I don't get it," he conceded at last, as Rachel groaned in exasperation again.

"It's not the best picture," she acknowledged, taking the phone back from him, "but just for the sake of argument, trust me on this one: it's a picture of you and Brooke asleep together the other night."

"Why do you have a photo of us?" Lucas asked suspiciously, still unclear as to where the girl's argument was going.

The redhead shrugged. "I was considering showing it to Peyton," she admitted honestly, letting out a small chuckle at the look of horror that crossed Lucas's face, "but relax," she told him, "I'm not going to."

"So why are you showing me then?" the boy asked, still thoroughly confused.

"Because, Lucas, I've spent a lot of nights sharing a room with Brooke in the last few months, and since the two of you broke up she barely sleeps. Every night I wake up and she's either crying or just staring into space, it's kind of freaky." Shaking her head, Rachel carried on, desperately trying to instil some understanding into the boy sat opposite her. "But that night, when I looked in and saw you with her, she was sleeping properly, hell, she was even snoring."

Lucas nodded slowly. "She does look tired," he murmured, and Rachel almost laughed at his lack of comprehension.

Instead, she just rolled her eyes yet again. "Well last night was worse than most," she told him brutally. "And so, to answer your question of why I'm stealing your coffee, it's because it's entirely your fault I'm not getting any sleep, okay?"

"Well what do you expect me to do Rachel?" Lucas questioned wearily. "Sleep with Brooke every night?" Rachel raised an eyebrow in response and he groaned. "Just stop whatever it is that you're thinking," he cautioned, "I'm with Peyton now, and I can't imagine she'd be too impressed with whatever plan you're concocting."

"Yeah, well, I don't think Brooke liked it when Peyton was plotting to steal her boyfriend either," Rachel muttered darkly, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Okay, okay," she mumbled off Lucas's look, "I'm sorry. But I just don't get it, y'know?"

Once again Lucas's expression was blank. "Get what?" he asked.

"Get _you_," the redhead responded irritably. Lucas looked at her quizzically, clearly not comprehending, so she continued. "When we went on our boy draft 'date', you kept telling me that Brooke was 'the one'. Hell, you even made that stupid destiny shot, and now…what happened Luke?" Rachel questioned, almost sadly. "When did that destiny change?"

There was silence for a moment as the two stared at one another, one knowing full well that the destiny in question hadn't altered, but aware that the other had yet to realise this. "I don't know," Lucas finally whispered weakly.

Rachel sighed, getting to her feet. "Yeah, well, figure it out," she told him sternly before exiting the room, taking his coffee with her. Collapsing back onto the sofa, Lucas sighed, rubbing his face in confusion, overwhelmingly lost.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I think it's time for a game of 'I Never'," Rachel's voice broke through the comfortable silence that enveloped the group as they once again sat in the hot tub, drinks in hand. Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at her, expressions ranging from doubt to disbelief. "What?" she protested. "It's either that or Truth or Dare…although that could be fun too," the girl paused to contemplate the idea, sending a wicked glance in Brooke's direction as she did so.

'Fine,' Brooke answered quickly, reading the look on her friend's face and realising that Truth or Dare was not a game she wanted to get involved in, "I'll play 'I Never'," she conceded unwillingly.

Rachel smiled in satisfaction. "Good answer Davis," she approved, "now, anyone else?"

"I'll play," Mouth shrugged, a wry grin on his face. "It's not a bad game to play when you've only had sex once," he pointed out, "I can just laugh at the rest of you."

The group laughed, as Nathan looked at his wife, who nodded her head in response. "Hales and I are in," he announced.

"Excellent," Rachel clapped her hands, before fixing her gaze on Peyton and Lucas. "Peyton? Lucas? Are you in?" she questioned as the two looked at one another uncertainly. "Come on," she wheedled, "I doubt Blondie-locks has got much to hide, and as for you Luke," she paused, smirking, "well, Brooke's already playing, so all your sexcapades will be revealed anyway."

"Fine, I'll play," Peyton muttered, slightly resentful of Rachel's remark.

Lucas sighed, realising he didn't have much of a choice now. "Me too, I guess," he agreed, a note of apprehension in his voice.

"Good," Rachel nodded, "but," she continued, never taking her eyes off Lucas, "try not to make anyone cry today, okay Lukey-boy?" Seeing his sarcastic nod she smiled and carried on, anxious to begin the game. "Okay, me first. I never…slept with Nathan Scott," she giggled slightly at the death stares she received from Haley and Brooke as the two and Peyton picked up their glasses and drank.

"My turn," Haley announced, putting her glass down and fixing her gaze on Rachel. "I never…got rejected by Nathan Scott."

The group burst into laughter as the redhead scowled and picked up her drink. "Nice one Hales," Peyton chuckled, reaching forward to give her friend a high-five, "and I think I'll build on that theme. I never…got rejected by Lucas Scott."

Rachel glared as her friends' laughter increased. "Aww, poor little Rachel, are you sure you want to play this game?" Brooke teased, giggling helplessly.

The redhead grinned, finishing her drink and turning to the brunette. "Oh I think I do Brookie," she told her friend, "you see, I have all the ammunition I need to get you very drunk indeed. Now, where to start?" she pretended to consider her options as Brooke twisted her hair around her fingers nervously, wondering where Rachel was going to begin. "Okay," the girl commenced finally, flicking her gaze between Brooke and Lucas, "I never…had sex in Karen's Café."

Lucas blushed as he and Brooke picked up their drinks and took a gulp, determinedly avoiding the other's eyes as they did so. "That's so gross," Nathan laughed, "I'm never eating there again," he continued as Brooke stuck out her tongue at him. "Anyway, my turn," the younger Scott brother announced, suddenly remembering a few interesting things his brother had told him and wanting to join in the fun. "I never…had sex _on_ the Rivercourt, in broad daylight might I add."

"Oh my God, Brooke!" Haley squealed in disgust, turning to her friend, "what if someone saw you?"

Brooke shrugged, blushing slightly as she remembered the occasion, and the overwhelming lust that had prevented them from any coherent thought. "We didn't really think about that at the time," she muttered, downing the remains of her drink.

"Nice work Nathan," Rachel applauded, smiling inwardly as she noted the look of discomfort on Peyton's face. "Okay, I never…had sex in the boys locker room," she announced triumphantly, bursting into laughter at the glare she received from Brooke as once again she and Lucas were the only ones to raise their glasses.

"It was empty at the time," Lucas tried, in an attempt to defend himself, but the others only laughed harder.

"Thank God," Nathan chuckled, "can you imagine the look on Whitey's face if he'd walked in and seen _that_?"

"Eww!" Brooke groaned in protest, "I do _not_ want to think about Whitey seeing me naked!"

"Okay," Haley giggled, "I'll change the subject. I never…had sex in the restrooms at Tric."

This time Peyton joined Lucas and Brooke in taking a drink. "Ooh, run out of new ideas did we Luke?" Rachel teased, somewhat surprised that the blonde girl had been so adventurous, but the boy just shrugged, looking at his girlfriend in confusion.

"It wasn't with Lucas," Peyton admitted, and an unaccountable wave of relief sent a grin back onto Brooke's face.

"Jake?" she guessed, and the blonde smiled guiltily in admission. "Nice work P. Sawyer," Brooke laughed as her friend grinned, accepting the congratulations.

"Uh, hello, boyfriend right here?" Lucas protested, only half-joking.

"Right, because you've never once had to admit to doing anything with any of your ex-girlfriends?" Peyton pointed out, a flash of annoyance in her eyes as she spoke, unable to fully hide the jealousy that had been building as more and more details of Lucas and Brooke's sexual history had been revealed. "Or are you going to tell me that you and Brooke have just had sex in a lot of the same places with different people?"

"Calm down Pey, he was only joking," Haley intervened, glaring at Lucas as she spoke.

"Yeah, I was, I'm sorry babe," Lucas agreed quickly, bending his head to give Peyton a quick peck on the lips.

"Fine," she muttered, leaning into her boyfriend as he slipped an arm around her, but not able to fully shake the disconcerting realisation that Lucas appeared to view her in a decidedly less sexual way than he had Brooke.

"My turn now," Brooke interrupted Peyton's thoughts, "and seeing as Mouth appears to be falling asleep over there," she teased, giggling at her friend who sat upright in shock, "I never…had sex with a clean teen."

The rest of the group broke out in catcalls and whistles as Mouth downed his drink. "Hold on," Nathan broke in, confused, "wasn't Chase a clean teen?"

Brooke nodded. "Yup," she answered smugly.

"So why aren't you drinking?" Lucas interjected.

The brunette smirked. "Because I didn't sleep with him," she told him, "and you don't have to look so surprised," she carried on, seeing him raise an eyebrow, "I was a clean teen too, remember?"

Rachel snorted. "Yeah, well, so was I," she pointed out, "and I'm hardly the Virgin Mary am I?"

Brooke put on a serious face and spoke piously. "No my child, you are not," she conceded, "however, your immoral ways did not rub off on me, for I remain as pure as the driven snow."

The group laughed in disbelief at Brooke's comment. "Alright, oh virtuous one," Rachel countered, "I never…had sex on the hood of a car."

The brunette rolled her eyes as she and Lucas took another drink, but nearly spat it back out again as Haley and Nathan raised their glasses as well. "Tutor-girl!" Brooke exclaimed, as Lucas groaned.

"I really did not need to know that," he complained, as his best friend glared at him in mock-anger.

"Yeah, well, I didn't need to walk in on you and Brooke having sex countless times," she countered. "And trust me, the _sight_ of your best friend having sex is far worse than any mental pictures you might have."

"Okay, just curious, but did you two ever do anything apart from have sex?" Mouth questioned, as Brooke and Lucas blushed.

"What can I say," the girl shrugged, grinning at her friend, "I'm a very sexual person. And Broody here," she smirked, the alcohol loosening her tongue, "he just can't resist me." For a split-second the group held their breath, and then Brooke realised what she had said. "I mean, he _couldn't_ resist me," she backtracked hastily, "obviously he can _now_, otherwise we'd be having sex right here…" she trailed off. "I'm gonna shut up now," she decided, as the others stared at her, Lucas looking embarrassed, Peyton uncomfortable, whilst the others tried to hold back their laughter.

"Good idea," Lucas agreed eagerly, the images Brooke conjured up with her words almost too much to bear. _Hell_, he thought, glancing up at his former girlfriend who was biting her lip nervously, _she was right when she used the present tense. I can't resist her_. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes, trying to erase the pictures in his mind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That was so not my idea!" Brooke protested hotly as the game continued almost two hours later. 'He made me do it,' she gestured towards Lucas who was flushed slightly with a combination of embarrassment and the excessive amounts of alcohol that he and his former girlfriend had been forced to consume as part of the game.

"Brooke in leather…whips, handcuffs…nice work man!" Mouth chuckled, high-fiving his friend.

"Didn't know you were into the dominatrix thing," Nathan grinned, shaking his head at his brother as the blond boy's blushes deepened.

"Yeah, and I didn't _want_ to know," Haley groaned, trying to block the disturbing images from her mind.

Rachel smirked wickedly. "Maybe you'll have to get yourself a whip Blondie," she suggested, fixing her eyes on Peyton who glared back in response.

"And maybe you'll have to shut your plastic mouth before I drown you," she spat acerbically.

"Ooh," the redhead mocked, holding her hands up in fake terror. "Calm down, "she told the other girl, a flash of evil in her eyes, "it's not my fault Lucas's fantasies are all about Brooke."

"Peyton!" Lucas shouted, grabbing his girlfriend's waist and pulling her back as she attempted to launch herself at Rachel. "It was just a joke babe," he told her more quietly. "Wasn't it Rachel?" he added, looking to her for confirmation.

"Yeah, no need to be so touchy," the girl opined, a fake smile on her face.

"Rachel," Brooke warned, glaring at her friend.

"Fine," the redhead rolled her eyes and turned back to Peyton. "I'm sorry Peyton," she said sweetly. "Now can we get back to the game?" she questioned.

"Uh-huh," Mouth broke in, "I want more details about this first. What did you guys actually _do_?" he questioned, grinning as Brooke blushed an even deeper scarlet.

"Mouth!" she exclaimed in horror, "you can't ask that!"

"I wasn't asking you," he told the brunette, laughing, "I was asking Luke."

"Uh…" Lucas squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, trying to hide his growing erection as he remembered that night, Brooke standing above him in a leather cat suit as he lay handcuffed to the bed. Catching her glance at him, he let out an inaudible sigh as she bit her lip, remembering how she had done the same thing repeatedly to keep herself from laughing as she acted out the role. "You guys don't really want to hear about this do you?" he asked in desperation.

"Yes!" Rachel, Mouth and Nathan chorused, as Haley groaned and put her hands over her ears, whilst Peyton scowled angrily.

Brooke giggled at the look of discomfort on her former boyfriend's face as he struggled to phrase an answer to Mouth's question. "There's not much to tell," she shrugged, accepting Lucas's grateful smile as she interjected. "Luke was naked, I had my wicked way with him. Same as every other night really, except I was wearing leather and carrying a whip."

Nathan chuckled. "So we know who was the dominant one in _that_ relationship don't we bro?" he teased his brother.

"Hey," Lucas protested, as the others giggled, before throwing his hands up in admission. "Okay, well maybe, but you try resisting Brooke when she wants something. I was powerless."

"Hold on a second," Brooke exclaimed, "this makes me sound like some kind of sex-crazed whore!" She fixed her gaze on Lucas, eyes darkening as memories flitted across her mind, and he gulped. "I seem to remember many occasions when you were the one who couldn't keep your hands off me," she reminded him.

Lucas shrugged, laughing, his eyes never leaving Brooke's. "You can't blame me for that," he told her, the hint of flirtation in his tone obvious to Haley who glanced worriedly at Peyton, who was watching the proceedings with a venomous scowl on her face. "I mean," he continued as she bit her lip, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks, "have you seen how hot you are? I had no chance."

For a split second there was total silence. And then with a loud splashing noise, Peyton pulled herself to her feet. "I'm going to bed," she muttered, glaring angrily at her boyfriend.

"Pey…" Lucas sighed, realising he had gone too far. "I was just joking," he tried feebly.

The blonde girl laughed humourlessly. "Maybe so," she told him, "but that doesn't explain the rest of tonight's revelations does it?" Seeing the six confused faces staring up at her she continued, the alcohol preventing her from feeling any embarrassment as she explained further, eyes flashing as she stared at Lucas. "All night, all I've heard is a catalogue of all the times you screwed my best friend, but me, I have to practically _beg_ you to come near me."

"It didn't sound like that last night," Rachel interrupted darkly, succeeding in hiding the grin that had threatened to form following Peyton's words.

Peyton snorted, glancing disparagingly at the redhead. "That's because he was drunk," she stated simply.

"Peyton…" Lucas attempted again but she dismissed him with a wave of her arm, tears filling her eyes as she continued to direct her words to Rachel.

"We've had sex three times," she announced bluntly, ignoring the five pairs of eyebrows that rose in unison as Lucas covered his face with his hands, "and two of those were after you had been drinking," the girl continued, tears finally spilling over and her voice quivering as she turned back to the older Scott brother. "And it's not as though I can blame it on a low sex drive, because clearly you didn't have that problem when you were with Brooke did you?" Lucas remained silent, knowing that he couldn't possibly answer that question correctly, but Peyton persisted. "_Did you_?" she asked again, her voice rising in volume.

"No," Lucas whispered, staring at his hands, not daring to look up for fear of seeing either the hurt in Peyton's eyes or the confusion in Brooke's.

Peyton nodded slowly. "Guess that means it's just me you don't want then," she murmured sadly, before turning and heading back inside.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Wow, over 30 reviews for the last chapter, which is the highest number I've had yet, so thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! This chapter involves far too much Peyton for my liking, so sorry about that, but there are a couple of Brucas moments too, don't worry! Oh, and the _Dawson's _Creek quote is from episode 319, 'Stolen Kisses'. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight**

"Who is it?" Peyton called in response to the gentle knock on her door.

"It's just us," Haley responded, opening the door with one hand and edging inside. "We just came to see how Auntie Peyton was doing, didn't we angel," she continued, directing her voice to James, who was lying in a sling around his mother's neck.

Peyton shrugged. "I'm okay," she answered, feigning nonchalance.

Haley sighed. "Lucas really shouldn't be allowed to play 'I Never," she observed, as her friend smiled wryly.

"True," the blonde concurred, and Haley sighed again as Peyton failed to continue.

"So, the others have gone to the beach," she announced brightly, "and we were just about to go and join them. Do you want to come?"

Peyton shrugged, weighing the options in her mind and realising that she didn't really have an alternative: if she didn't face Lucas then he would simply be left with Brooke all day. _Not that he'd complain_, she thought bitterly, climbing slowly off the bed and picking up a bag. "I guess," she muttered, grabbing a towel and stuffing it into the bag.

"Yay," Haley cheered, as James cooed in agreement, and Peyton couldn't help but smile at the other girl's enthusiasm. Seeing the reaction, Haley paused for a moment before deciding to make another attempt at getting Peyton to open up. "Pey…" she started, and the other girl looked up in response, "uh, well, I just wanted to say, if you ever want to talk, well, I'm here, okay?" Receiving no response, she continued to ramble, "I mean, I know Brooke's your best friend and everything, but I just thought, given the situation, you might want someone who can be a might more impartial…" her voice trailed off as she glanced anxiously at the blonde.

"You mean someone who isn't in love with my boyfriend?" Peyton questioned, a hint of bitterness clear in her voice, and Haley blanched.

"Uh…" she stuttered helplessly, uncertain of how to respond.

Peyton smiled wryly. "It's okay," she told her friend, "I don't blame her. Hell, she was in love with him first. Its just…" she paused for a second, before turning to look directly into Haley's eyes. "Do you think he's in love with her?"

Haley gulped, weighing up her options for a moment before deciding to answer honestly. "Sometimes I do," she admitted, feeling a pang of guilt as she saw the pain in Peyton's eyes at her words. "But then, "she continued, "he chose you, and that has to mean something."

Peyton sighed, running her fingers through her curls in frustration. "I guess," she acknowledged, "but their relationship was so different to mine and Luke's, I can't help wondering if that was because he loved her more."

The other girl nodded, smiling at James as he gurgled before turning back to Peyton and considering her suggestion. "He loves you differently," she opined finally, elaborating after seeing the confusion on her friend's face. "Brooke and Lucas are opposites, you and Lucas are practically the same. No one could love you and Brooke in the same way, you're too different."

Peyton nodded, seeing her friend's point. "But then how do you know which sort of love is the right one?" she questioned.

Haley shrugged, knowing in her heart what the correct answer was, but not wanting to hurt her friend any more. "I don't know," she whispered.

The blonde girl nodded sadly, seeing the truth in her friend's eyes. For a moment there was silence before Peyton spoke again, voicing a question that had been plaguing her for weeks. "Hales, you know how last night I said that Lucas and I had only had sex three times?" she questioned, continuing as her friend nodded. "Well, is it weird that I'm okay with that?"

A frown furrowed Haley's brow. "You seemed pretty upset by it last night," she pointed out, confusion evident in her voice.

"I know," Peyton admitted, "but if I'm honest, that was because I was scared that all of his and Brooke's sexual history meant he loved her more, not because I actually mind not having sex. I mean," she continued, "when Lucas and I get into bed at night, I don't feel this overwhelming lust for him. I just feel…safe. Like nothing can hurt me while his arms are around me, y'know?"

Haley sighed, uncertain of what to make of this new admission. "Is that how you felt with Jake?" she asked bluntly, choosing to bring in the fourth member of the tangled web her friends had created.

"No," Peyton whispered quietly, almost shamefully. "With Jake I felt safe, yeah, but I needed him physically as well. We were no Lucas and Brooke," she smirked, as Haley smiled, "but the chemistry was there in a way that it isn't with Lucas."

The young mother shook her head, trying to make sense of the information. "You need to talk to Lucas," she announced finally. "And you need to do it soon, because if this goes on much longer someone's going to get their heart broken." _Probably Brooke_, she added silently, crossing her fingers as she hoped that her friends could sort out the muddle into which they had become embroiled.

Peyton nodded, knowing her friend was right. Picking up her bag she stuck her feet into flip-flops and moved towards the door. "You said they were at the beach, right?" she questioned, and seeing Haley's nod she continued. "Okay, then lets go."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There they are," Haley commented a few minutes later, pointing out their friends who were some distance away, in the midst of a game of chicken, Brooke balanced on Nathan's shoulders whilst Rachel competed with Mouth.

"Yes!" Nathan shouted as Mouth tipped backwards, sending Rachel flying into the sea.

"Nice work tutor-boy," Brooke agreed, grinning as Nathan bent down to let her climb off his back, "and nice hair," she continued to Rachel as she emerged, shaking seaweed out of her long red mane.

Rachel glared at her friend. "I demand a rematch," she announced.

"Fine by me," Brooke shrugged, "we'll happily beat you again, won't we Nate?" she taunted, turning to the younger Scott for confirmation.

"Uh-huh." Nathan shook his head, rubbing his shoulder in mock agony. "I'm out. And Rachel's right, you do have a fat ass!"

"Hey!" Brooke protested, slapping Nathan's other arm before gazing up at him, pouting, "Pretty please?" she wheedled.

"Nope," Nathan remained firm. "Luke'll play with you though," he suggested, gesturing towards his brother.

For a second Brooke froze, unsure of what to do, but the potential for awkwardness was quickly outweighed by her desire to beat Rachel again, so she transferred her gaze to Lucas. "Luke?" she begged, opening her eyes wide and sticking out her bottom lip.

Lucas sighed, knowing full well that he was powerless to resist the pretty brunette. "Fine," he agreed, wading further into the sea and bending down, "hop on."

"Yay," Brooke squealed excitedly, clambering onto Lucas's shoulders and trying to ignore the jolt of electricity that coursed through her as her former boyfriend gripped her legs in order to stop her falling. "You're going down Gattina," she taunted, sticking her tongue out at her friend, who had by now climbed back onto Mouth's shoulders.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease," she drawled, gripping Brooke's hands with her own, "like you two are gonna be able to concentrate with all the weird chemistry you've got going on. I give it five minutes before you get all hot and bothered and have to run home to brooke your – oww!" she interrupted herself with a yelp of pain as Brooke's foot made contact with her leg.

Brooke glowered at her friend, glad that from her position on Lucas's shoulders there was no way he could see her face, knowing that Rachel's words were completely accurate. The feel of Lucas's naked skin around her legs was almost unbearable and she shook herself slightly, trying to erase her aroused state. "Let's get on with the game," she finally managed, launching herself forwards and pushing at Rachel with all her strength.

"Whatever you say, slut," Rachel taunted as she pushed back.

"Whore."

"Bitch."

"Ho."

"Slut."

"You already said that!"

"So? You are a slut!" Rachel laughed at Brooke as the two bickered.

"You know, we'd have a much better chance of winning if you didn't waste all your energy bitching at Brooke," Mouth pointed out affably from underneath Rachel.

"Don't be so boring Mouth," Rachel scolded him. "Besides, we all know Brooke's gonna win, she's got more weight behind her."

"Okay, enough with the fat jokes Gattina!" the brunette protested. "I've got a perfectly decent figure thank you very much, haven't I Broody?" she questioned the boy underneath, unable to resist the flirtatious comment.

"Perfect," Lucas agreed solemnly, attempting a faint mocking tone in order to disguise the sincerity of his response.

"Ha!" Brooke taunted, sticking her tongue out at Rachel again and loosening her grip on the redhead's arms. "Aaargh!" she screamed as Rachel gave a gentle push and Brooke began to topple backwards, saved from landing in the water by Lucas, who twisted his arm behind his back and caught the girl, hoisting her back upright with the same motion. "Nice hands Broody," Brooke gasped in relief as soon as she had caught her breath.

"Well, you would know," Rachel teased, laughing, as Brooke once again glared at her friend in annoyance.

"Okay, Broody, we're gonna beat this bitch," she announced, pushing against the redhead with all her strength, and letting out a squeal of triumph as Rachel went tumbling backwards over Mouth's shoulder, and landing in the sea with a loud splash. "Yes! Ha ha, you suck!" she crowed, before screaming in shock as Rachel grabbed Lucas's leg from underwater and pushed, sending them both tumbling backwards into the sea.

"You okay?" Lucas chuckled, disentangling himself from the brunette and twisting his body so that he knelt just above her, laughing harder as he saw the disgusted look on her face.

"I've got seaweed in my hair," Brooke moaned, sticking out her bottom lip and sitting up to look at the blond boy.

Smiling, Lucas leant down, gently running his fingers through her damp waves until he was satisfied that no seaweed remained. "Better?" he asked gently.

Brooke nodded, her heart in her mouth as she felt the tension escalate between them. Unable to remain in such close proximity to the boy who owned her heart she attempted to shift backwards, but stopped immediately, wincing in pain. "My butt hurts," she complained, glaring at Lucas as burst into laughter. "It's not funny Broody," she told him, pouting dramatically.

"Come here," he told her, still chuckling as he got to his feet before bending down and scooping her up in his arms, carrying her out of the sea and back onto the beach. "Now," he teased, looking down at her as she lay in his arms, "why don't you show me where it hurts and I can kiss it better?"

"Eww!" Brooke squealed in mock outrage, pushing away the small voice in her head that piped up in support of Lucas's suggestion.

"What?" Lucas laughed, feigning offence. "It's not like there's any part of you I haven't already kissed," he pointed out, his voice husky, and the smile faded from Brooke's face as she bit her lip, tense with longing.

"Hey guys," Haley called loudly as she followed Peyton towards them, having seen the angry look on the blonde's face and realising she had better alert Lucas and Brooke to their presence.

Lucas spun round quickly and, seeing Peyton, Brooke jumped out of his arms, almost falling in her haste. "I…umm…I think I left my…something…back in the cabin," she stuttered, desperately avoiding the gazes of both Lucas and Peyton. "Back in a bit," she muttered, sticking her feet into her flip-flops and heading back in the direction of the cabin at a frantic pace.

The blond boy sighed, turning to face his girlfriend. "It wasn't what it looked like…" he tried, but she merely rolled her eyes.

"We need to talk," she announced, grabbing his arm and leading him firmly away from the group, who had begun to gather around them, as Lucas sighed again, knowing he wasn't going to enjoy this conversation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't really know where to start," Peyton admitted as she and Lucas sat down on a bench a few minutes later, nervousness clear in her demeanour as she looked at her boyfriend.

Lucas smiled gently, his expression softening as he read the fear in her eyes. "Just tell me how you feel, Pey," he offered.

"Okay," Peyton agreed, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure we should be together," she blurted out.

"Wow," Lucas exhaled, clearly shocked. "I wasn't expecting that."

"It's not that I don't _want_ to be with you," the girl hastily qualified. "I love you, Luke, it's just…we don't have any chemistry."

"Chemistry," Lucas repeated, confusion clouding his features.

Peyton sighed, realising she wasn't explaining herself very well. "Last night, when we were playing that stupid game," she explained, "I realised that you and Brooke must have had this amazing connection to have been so desperate for each other that you had sex in all these weird places." Sensing that her boyfriend was about to protest she held up a warning hand to stop him and continued. "And I had that with Jake…although probably not to the same extent, I'm not quite the horn-dog that Brooke is," she joked, and Lucas smirked, silently agreeing with her. "Anyway, I'm not blaming you for the lack of sex, I'm just scared that if we don't have that lust, we're really nothing more than good friends."

The boy sighed, seeing the logic in Peyton's argument. "You might be right," he admitted, carrying on as he saw her face fall, "but then again, it might just be that you and Brooke are different people, and so are me and Jake, and so we can't possibly have the same relationships we had with them with each other."

Peyton nodded. "That's sort of what Haley said," she admitted, and Lucas smiled, glad that his best friend had been willing to listen to Peyton's worries despite her close friendship with Brooke.

"Hales usually knows what she's talking about," he agreed, ignoring the part of him that was fiercely crying out in support of Peyton's theory. "So where does this leave us?" he wondered.

Peyton shrugged. "I guess we see how it goes," she suggested uncertainly, looking up into his blue eyes. "I love you Luke, I really do, but I'm still not sure. This sounds awful, but in some ways I think I just needed to be with you so that I wasn't wondering _what if_ all the time."

Lucas nodded again, impressed by his girlfriend's honesty. "You know, if you hadn't rejected me that time we might have managed to sort all this out by now," he joked. "Either we'd still be happy together, or we'd have realised we weren't compatible and…" he tailed off, uncertain of how to frame the rest of his thoughts.

"You'd be happy with Brooke?" Peyton finished, a knowing expression in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Yeah," Lucas whispered, realising he owed it to the girl in front of him to be honest. "I'm always gonna love her Pey," he admitted, "same as you're always going to love Jake. But that doesn't mean we can't love each other, does it?"

"I don't know," the curly blonde murmured. "But I guess we'll find out," she shrugged, as he pulled her towards him, holding her comfortingly.

"I guess so," he agreed, but as he bent to drop a kiss on his girlfriend's lips, the image at the front of his mind was one of a beautiful brunette who, less than an hour ago, had been encased by his arms.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where's Brooke?" Lucas whispered softly in Haley's ear a few minutes after he and Peyton had returned, keeping one eye on his girlfriend as she squabbled good-naturedly with Nathan over whether he should be allowed to play hip-hop music on her CD player.

Haley rolled her eyes. "She went back to the cabin remember?" she told her friend, annoyance clear in her voice.

Lucas ignored the tone. "She hasn't come back?" he asked anxiously, concern cocktailing with guilt inside him.

His friend shook her head, her eyes softening as she read the worry in the boy's blue orbs. "Maybe I should go check on her?" she suggested, but Lucas shook his head, as she'd known he would.

"I'll go," he told Haley, before glancing back to his girlfriend. "Tell Peyton…" he trailed off.

"…that you've gone for a walk to clear your head?" Haley obliged, a reluctant smile on her face as Lucas nodded.

"Thanks Hales," he whispered, dropping a kiss on her cheek before jogging off in the direction of the cabin.

Within minutes he was there, and he paused for a second to compose himself, before opening the door and slipping inside. His heart rose as he saw the pretty brunette curled up on one of the living room sofas, biting her lip as she stared at the television screen, clearly entranced by whatever she was watching. "Hey pretty girl," he murmured, moving towards her.

Startled, she spun her head round to face him, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks as she realised who it was. "Hey," she muttered, trying to hide the smile that longed to etch itself onto her face at the sight of him.

"What are you watching?" Lucas asked, sitting down next to her.

"_Dawson's Creek_," she replied, forcing herself not to move away as his bare arm brushed hers and a jolt of electricity ran through her.

"Oh," Lucas nodded, "mind if I join you?"

Brooke sighed, turning her head to face him. "Shouldn't you be sorting things out with Peyton?" she asked grudgingly.

Lucas shrugged. "We talked," he acknowledged. "She's not mad at me any more, so…" he trailed off, shrugging again as his words disappeared. "I wanted to check you were okay," he admitted finally.

Brooke smiled sadly. "I'm fine Luke," she told him, but the lack of conviction in her voice hung in the air between them and he sighed. "I _am_," she repeated, emphasising the second word, "I just felt like a quiet afternoon watching cheesy teen dramas, that's all."

"So I take it that means you want me to shut up and let you watch this in peace?" he questioned teasingly, but the hint of sadness in his voice told her that he was genuinely upset that she didn't want to talk to him.

"Well you can talk during the commercials," she offered, a small smile on her face and Lucas grinned back.

"That seems fair," he nodded, settling more comfortably onto the sofa, and for a while silence reigned.

_Joey: Pacey are you okay?__  
__Pacey: Not so much, no.__  
__Joey: Well what's wrong?__  
__Pacey: It's the history. It's killing me. I mean how can I compete with that? You guys have your own karaoke routine.__  
__Joey: Pacey you're not supposed to compete. We're supposed to have our own hist- I didn't mean that._

"I don't get it," Lucas looked confused and Brooke tore her eyes away from the screen for a second to glance at him.

"Get what?" she asked.

"This," Lucas gestured at the characters on the screen, before elaborating. "I mean, I never really watched _Dawson's Creek_, but I thought Dawson and Joey were supposed to be together. And yet here she is clearly into this Pacey guy."

Brooke smirked at the serious expression on Lucas's face as he pondered the love lives of fictional teenagers. "It's a matter of perception," she told him. "See, Peyton always used to tell me Joey belonged with Dawson: they've got the whole soul mate thing going on, they've been best friends forever, know each other inside out, blah blah blah. But I always preferred her with Pacey: he saw her as the love of his life, not just a best friend who he made out with. I dunno, it just seemed like the differences between them made it work, y'know?"

Lucas nodded. "Like you and me," he murmured softly. "And Peyton and I are like Joey and Dawson," he continued, feeling satisfied that he had managed to logically create a parallel between his own life and that of the teenagers on the screen, "we have everything in common."

Brooke smiled. "I guess," she shrugged non-committaly.

"So, who does Joey end up with?" Lucas asked, his curiosity piqued.

For a moment there was silence. "Pacey," Brooke finally admitted in a whisper, turning her gaze to look into Lucas's eyes.

The boy nodded slowly, his heart pounding in his chest as he almost drowned in the green pools that shone up at him, and he bit his lip. "Oh," he managed to stammer finally, desperately trying to shake the desire to kiss the brunette.

"Relax, Luke, it's not real," she smiled sadly at the bewildered look etched on his features. "Just because Joey chose someone who was her complete opposite, that doesn't mean _you_ have to."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, blue eyes clouding over with confusion as he considered her statement. _Bu maybe I should_, he added silently, letting out an inaudible sigh as he gazed at the girl next to him. _Maybe I should_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone and thanks again for the reviews : ) This chapter's a little on the pointless side – I just wanted a bit of group interaction before the drama starts up, so I'm afraid nothing much actually happens in this one! Well, not until the very end anyway! But don't be put off though, chapter ten will be up in a few days, and that's hopefully going to be much better! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Nine**

"Hey guys," Deb called as she entered the cabin, Karen following closely behind with Lily in her arms.

"Hey Deb, hey Karen," a small voice came from the sofa and the two women turned to see a fragile looking brunette curled up on the couch, encased in a large grey hoodie and clutching the remote as _Dawson's Creek_ re-runs played on the television in front of her.

Noticing the girl's red-rimmed eyes, Deb carefully lifted Lily out of her mother's arms. "Shall we go look for your…ummm… half-brother's half-brother's son?" she asked the little girl, smirking as she described the complex relationship between the two infants.

Brooke managed a feeble smile. "He's outside, Nate's giving him basketball lessons," she told the older women who rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation as she crossed the room and exited through the sliding glass doors in search of her son and grandson.

"So where's everyone else?" Karen questioned, settling herself on the sofa next to Brooke.

"Getting changed for dinner," she replied.

"Right," Karen nodded. "Well I can see you've already made the effort," she noted, glancing pointedly at Brooke's oversized hoodie and tiny shorts.

Grinning, the girl shrugged. "I'll go in a minute," she told Karen. "There's no room for me in my room at the minute, Rachel and her ego take up too much space. Besides, I like this episode," she added, gesturing to the television.

Karen smiled, before relocating her gaze to the screen. "Which one is this?" she asked.

"It's the prom episode from season three," Brooke responded immediately, elaborating as she saw Karen's brow furrow in an attempt to remember. "Dawson guilt trips Joey into going with him, even though he knows she's in love with Pacey. But then Pacey and Joey dance and it's like the cutest thing ever."

Karen smiled at the enthusiasm that crept into Brooke's eyes as she talked. "I remember," she agreed, and for a moment the two watched in companionable silence before the older woman commented again. "Dawson's such an ass," she sighed, and Brooke let out a small giggle.

"Don't tell Peyton that," she chuckled, explaining herself as Karen looked confused. "Lucas was watching this with me earlier," she elaborated, "and he decided that if we translated our whole little love-triangle-thing into _Dawson's Creek_ then he would be Joey, Peyton would be Dawson, and I would be Pacey."

Karen laughed, shaking her head at the bizarre comments her son was so prone to. "Does he know who Joey ended up with?" she wondered, her expression becoming more serious as Brooke nodded.

"He does now," the young girl answered. "I don't think he was too impressed," she added, forcing a laugh that was entirely devoid of any humour.

The older woman smiled sadly. "And am I right in assuming that my son is the reason for your red eyes?" she questioned, knowing the answer as a blush crept across Brooke's cheeks.

"It's just hay-fever," she tried, sighing as she felt Karen's disbelieving gaze. "I dunno," she admitted finally, "it's just, we keep having these…these _moments_."

"Moments?" The bewilderment was evident in the older woman's voice and Brooke shifted slightly in her seat, trying to avoid Karen's questioning eyes as she continued.

"Like this morning, we were playing chicken and Rachel pushed us in the sea and I landed on my ass so Lucas picked me up and there was all this chemistry between us," she clarified breathlessly, her words running into one another as she spoke, "and it felt _right_, y'know? And then Peyton appeared and things went all weird again," she finished, her speech slowing as she mumbled the last words.

Karen sighed. "Can I tell you a secret Brooke?" she asked finally, carrying on as the fragile girl looked up at her and nodded, curiosity obviously piqued. "Peyton isn't right for Lucas," she announced.

"But –" Brooke protested, but Karen interrupted her, speaking in a tone of supreme authority.

"It's nothing against Peyton," she hastily stated, "but I know my son, and she isn't what he needs. He needs his Pacey," she smiled, remembering their conversation of a few moments ago.

Tears sprang to Brooke's eyes at the kind words of someone she had come to consider as a second, far more useful, mother. "But Joey loved Dawson," she pointed out plaintively, her use of the character's names doing nothing to suggest any level of detachment from the situation that was really being discussed.

Karen nodded, keeping to the fictional identities in order to prevent Brooke from becoming any more upset. "She did," she agreed solemnly, "but eventually they realised they were better off as friends, and Joey was free to go after the one she had always really loved." 

A small sob emitted from the fragile girl as she considered the implications of Karen's words, and the older woman pulled her towards her, wrapping her arms tightly around the crying girl and rocking her gently. "It'll be okay," she whispered soothingly.

"Hey Ma, where's Lily?" Brooke froze in Karen's arms at the sound of Lucas's voice and she quickly brushed at her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie, doing little to disguise the evidence of her tears.

Karen sighed as she felt the girl in her arms stiffen and she looked up to see her son staring down at the pair, concern evident in her eyes. "Deb took her outside to see James and Nathan," she answered, silently ordering Lucas to go and see his sister and leave her alone with Brooke.

Lucas nodded. "Is she okay?" he mouthed silently, breathing a sigh of relief when is mother nodded in response. He stood for a moment, ignoring Karen's glare and gazing at the broken girl in her arms, wishing he could do something to make her better.

"_Go_," the older woman's voice was almost inaudible, but the tone was unmistakably one that could not be argued with. With a last backward glance at the back of Brooke's head, Lucas sighed and retreated outside.

"Thanks Karen," Brooke whispered seconds later, pulling her head away from the comforting hug once she was satisfied that Lucas had indeed left.

Karen smiled gently, placing a kiss on Brooke's forehead before standing up. "I think it's time I got started with dinner. Why don't you go take a shower? I think I heard Rachel go into Mouth's room so you've probably got a bit of privacy."

Brooke nodded, getting to her feet and stretching. "Okay," she murmured, giving Karen one last sad smile before slipping out of the room.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rachel, for the last time, Nathan is _not _interested in you!" Haley shouted exasperatedly some twenty minutes later as the group stood in the living room whilst Karen worked on dinner and Deb watched the two babies.

Rachel smirked. "Maybe we should ask him that?" she suggested, her sarcastic smile growing wider as Haley growled in annoyance. "Hey Nate," she began to call in a mock-seductive tone, but was cut off by the younger Scott brother who was bickering with his older sibling.

"Right, because of course you're perfect aren't you?" he yelled in annoyance. "Never messed up, never hurt anyone? Hmmm, I think Brooke might have something to say about that!"

"Brooke broke up with me!" Lucas retorted, his voice increasing in volume to match his brother's.

"Because you kissed Peyton!" Nathan argued vehemently, ignoring Mouth who was attempting to separate the two boys.

"Brooke's hardly innocent herself," Peyton pointed out, coming to the defence of her boyfriend.

"Oh, and you are?" Brooke joined in, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "You stole my boyfriend, _twice_!"

"Oh God, don't start that again," Mouth muttered, but his protest went unnoticed.

"See?" Nathan taunted his brother. "Looks like the great Lucas Scott isn't so perfect after all." 

"Hmmm," Rachel remarked snidely, turning away from her bickering friends and glancing wickedly at Haley, "maybe it's not me you have to worry about. Nathan seems awfully protective of Brooke…"

"I swear to God Rachel," Haley warned, launching herself towards the girl and screaming in anger, but the rest of her sentence was interrupted as a shrill whistle cut through the air, followed by a deafening silence as the seven teenagers turned to look at Karen, who was standing on a chair in the kitchen and glaring at them all fiercely.

"Oh crap," Lucas muttered, recognising the expression on his mother's face, before shutting his mouth more firmly when her gaze centred on him.

"Thank you," Karen exclaimed sarcastically. "Right, let me sum up the arguments as I've heard them so far: Rachel tried to hit on Nathan and failed, but Haley lets herself get wound up about it far too easily; Peyton was a bitch to Brooke, Brooke was a bitch to Peyton, and Lucas is an ass to them both; Nathan can't help but interfere, when really he should be backing up his wife; and Mouth…" Karen's glare softened as she smiled at the boy, "well Mouth's just trying to help you all. Is that a fair assessment?" she questioned sternly, nodding in satisfaction as she saw seven heads bob up and down obediently.

"Okay then," the older woman continued, "well, seeing as you're all supposed to be friends, I suggest you overlook each other's character flaws, because if you wake up those babies then I assure you I will be leaving Lily here tonight, and then you'll have two tired infants to add to your problems, got it?"

"Sorry Karen," Brooke mumbled, looking shame-facedly at the woman who had been so kind to her only a short while before, and the others murmured their assent.

"It's okay Brooke," Karen smiled at the girl, climbing down from the chair. "But," she continued, "in the spirit of continuing this peaceful environment, I could use some help in here, okay?" Seeing their nods, Karen continued. "Brooke, Haley, could you peel some potatoes?" she began, but interrupted herself on seeing the panicked look on the young brunette's face. "Let me rephrase that," she countered. "Haley, you _show_ Brooke how to peel potatoes, Lucas and Rachel make a salad, and Mouth and Nathan, the table needs setting."

"What about me?" Peyton queried, half-raising her arm.

"Music," Karen announced cheerfully. "We need something cheesy to sing along to while we cook."

Brooke laughed. "Pey's not so good with the cheery music," she told Karen, moving over to stand behind Haley, potato peeler in hand.

"Ah, well that's where you're wrong B. Davis," the blonde countered, opening her CD case and pulling out a disc. "Remember this?" she asked her friend, waving the CD in front of Brooke who squealed excitedly.

"_Ho's Over Bro's Remix, 1998_," she read, pausing as confusion clouded her features. "Wasn't this on a cassette that we dropped over the side of my dad's boat?" she questioned.

"Yup," Peyton confirmed, grinning. "I found the piece of paper with the track list on it a few months ago and burned them."

"Oh you are awesome P. Sawyer," Brooke gushed, throwing the potato peeler back in Haley's direction and grabbing the CD out of Peyton's hand before dashing over to the CD player and putting it in. Within seconds the unmistakable bars of Britney Spears's _Baby One More Time_ filled the room and the kitchen was filled with singing and dancing girls.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wine?" Karen offered the group a few minutes later as they sat down to eat, peace finally restored.

"Eww, no thanks Karen," Brooke shuddered slightly, grabbing a jug of water and filling her glass with it instead.

"Heavy night last night?" the older woman chuckled, glancing at her son who had also declined her offer, making a similar face to Brooke.

"Only for these two," Rachel answered, a smirk on her face. "You see, we were playing 'I Never,'" she told Deb and Karen, "and, well, there don't appear to be many things that Brooke and Lucas haven't done."

"'I Never?'" Deb questioned, a frown appearing on her face as she wondered what the game involved.

"It's a drinking game," Rachel explained cheerfully. "Basically, someone says, I Never…I dunno, failed a Math test, and if someone did, they have to take a shot."

"So Brooke and Lucas failed a lot of Math tests did they?" Deb smirked, her use of Rachel's analogy doing nothing to disguise the knowing tone in her voice as she looked at the blushing teens.

"Yup," the redhead confirmed, before pausing to reflect on her statement. "Well, actually, Brooke really _did_ fail a lot of Math tests," she amended, "but that's not the point. Together, they failed a _lot_ of Math tests, in some very…unique places."

"Rachel," Brooke hissed, glaring at her friend, who merely smiled serenely, helping herself to some more salad.

"I really don't want to hear about this," Karen groaned, taking a gulp of wine as Deb and Rachel chuckled.

"No, you probably don't," the redhead agreed amicably. "Although," she paused for a second and Brooke tensed herself, knowing she wasn't going to like Rachel's next words, "you do disinfect your kitchen counters regularly don't you?"

"Rachel!" Brooke yelped, nearly dropping her water into her food as her friends began to giggle and Lucas groaned.

"Yes, why?" Karen began, before realisation kicked in. "Lucas Eugene Scott!" she exclaimed in outrage, causing the others to laugh more loudly, even Peyton seeing the funny side.

"It was her fault!" Lucas whined, pointing at Brooke.

"Oh yeah, because I was the one with keys to the Café, was I?" the brunette retorted, letting out a small giggle as Lucas dropped his head into his hands in a gesture of defeat.

"I'm sorry Ma," he whispered finally, looking up at his mother who was trying desperately not to laugh at the horrified expression on her son's face.

"Okay, time to change the subject," Haley tried in an attempt to ease her friend's discomfort, but she was interrupted by Karen.

"Haley, you have keys to the Café don't you?" the older woman asked, and the laughter around the table increased as the others realised where Karen's question was headed.

"I wouldn't do that!" Haley protested hotly, blushing furiously.

Karen chuckled, enjoying teasing the girl. "Well, I had to ask," she shrugged. "I know what Scott men are like," she added, glancing pointedly at Nathan who just grinned.

"Yeah, actually, I think all the women here know what Scott men are like," Haley agreed, before fixing a mocking gaze on Rachel. "Oh no, well that's apart from Rachel of course. She just knows what it's like to be _rejected_ by Scott men, don't you Rach?"

"Okay, this is bizarre," the redhead laughed, dismissing Haley's comment with a roll of her eyes. "So Karen's slept with Dan and Keith, Deb with Dan, Haley with Nathan, and Brooke and Peyton with Lucas _and _Nathan. Wow," she finished, gesturing to Karen and Peyton, "I already knew Brooke was a slut, but you two are just as bad!"

"Hey!" Karen objected, "there were seventeen years between me sleeping with Dan and sleeping with Keith!"

"Yeah, and actually, I slept with Keith too," Deb admitted, causing a gale of laughter to whip round the table as it was Nathan's turn to groan.

"Oh my God," Rachel exclaimed, still laughing and pointing to Brooke and Peyton, "this is going to be you two in twenty years time!"

"Well, whichever one of you becomes me," Deb told the two girls conspiratorially, "I'll leave you my gun!"

"Gun?" Peyton questioned uncertainly, glancing at Haley and Nathan who just rolled their eyes. "Are we supposed to, like, kill Lucas or something?"

The table exploded in hysterical laughter at the look of panic that crossed Lucas's face at his girlfriend's words. "Not funny," he muttered as the noise died down.

"Hold on a second," interrupted Karen, who had been pondering Rachel's earlier comment. "When did you sleep with Nathan?" she asked, fixing Brooke with a curious gaze.

"Ummm," the brunette blushed, looking down at the table. "The beginning of junior year," she admitted. "But I was really really drunk," she added hastily

"But wasn't Nathan dating Peyton then?" Karen questioned, ignoring the warning looks from Lucas and Haley.

"We were broken up at the time," Peyton told the older woman, receiving a grateful smile from Brooke.

Deb chuckled. "You say Karen and I are bad," she told Rachel, "but until recently we'd both only slept with one Scott boy. These two have managed two before they even finished high school!"

"Mom!" Nathan groaned in embarrassment, but Rachel cut off his complaints.

"You know, I've always meant to ask you two this," she gestured to Brooke and Peyton, waving her fork at them for emphasis, "but which one's better in bed?"

"You can't ask that!" Lucas protested violently.

"Yeah, I don't want to hear this," Karen agreed, frowning at the thought. "I'm gonna go get the dessert," she added, standing up, Deb following her.

"Well I do," Mouth opined, grinning as six pairs of eyes turned to look at him. "Not because I want to sleep with either of you," he hastily clarified, "just so I know who to go to for sex tips."

"It's gotta be me Mouth," Nathan told his friend, smirking at his brother. "I mean, Luke doesn't want them to answer the question, so it's obvious he's scared."

The older Scott brother glared at his sibling, knowing he had allowed himself to be tricked into this. "Fine," he acquiesced sulkily, fixing his eyes on the girls opposite him, "you can answer."

"Yay," Rachel squealed excitedly as the others chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Okay, Brooke first," she directed, sticking her tongue out when Brooke groaned.

"Alright," Brooke shrugged. "Lucas."

"Yes!" the blond boy cheered triumphantly, whilst Nathan looked at Brooke in fake horror.

"Sorry," she shrugged, "but seeing as I don't remember sleeping with you, it can't have been that good."

"Ouch," Lucas taunted his brother as the others laughed, before turning to Peyton who bit her lip in discomfort, knowing what her honest answer would be but uncertain of whether to give it.

"Nathan," she admitted finally, ignoring the gasp of surprise coming from Brooke and focusing on Lucas who was looking at her in shock. "Sorry babe," she told her boyfriend, unable to stifle a small giggle at the hurt on his face.

"I knew I liked you Pey," Nathan applauded her decision, clapping his brother on the back in mock compassion.

"Hmmm, looks like it's a tie," Rachel observed. "Ah well, guess tutor-bitch will just have to sleep with Luke to give us a deciding vote."

"Eww!" Lucas and Haley gave twin cries of disgust as their friends giggled.

"So who won?" Deb asked, returning to the table with four bowls of chocolate fudge cake in her arms and setting them down as Karen set the remaining four at the opposite end of the table.

"It was a tie," Rachel answered, spooning the dessert into her mouth. "Mmmm, Karen, this is amazing," she exclaimed.

Karen smiled, pleased at the compliment. "Thanks," she accepted graciously, before continuing, "now shut up and eat it, all of you! I really don't want to know any more about my son's sex life!" A small chuckle ran round the table, but a moment later there was silence, and the only sound to be heard in the cabin was the clank of spoons hitting dishes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hmmm, let me think about that, no!" Haley glared at her husband and he sighed in defeat, tossing the _NBA Highlights_ DVD behind him. Karen, Deb, and Lily had left, and the seven teens were trying to decide on a film to watch before they headed to bed.

"_Lord of the Rings_?" Lucas suggested.

"Too long, too boring, and Orlando Bloom looks ridiculous as an elf," Brooke opined without even looking at Lucas who rolled his eyes and resumed flicking through the DVDs that the group had brought with them.

"_Pirates of the Caribbean_?" Nathan tried again.

"Mmmm, Johnny Depp," all four girls sighed at once as Mouth and Lucas glared fiercely at Nathan.

"Okay, maybe not," the younger Scott conceded, hiding the DVD underneath a cushion out of sight of the girls.

"Ooh, _The Notebook_," Brooke squealed excitedly, unearthing the film from Haley's collection and gazing beseechingly at the males in the room.

"No!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Please?" she wheedled, fixing them with puppy-dog eyes and pouting desperately.

"No, Brooke, we are not watching _The Notebook_," Nathan remained firm, although a glance to either side told him that both Lucas and Mouth were in danger of succumbing to the pleading look on the pretty brunette's face. "We've got to find something we all like."

"I don't think there is anything we all like Nate," Peyton observed, throwing the last pile of DVDs onto the floor in exasperation.

"Hey, there's no video player on this machine," Rachel complained from the corner of the room where she was examining the television.

"Okay, I know you have an IQ smaller than your bra size," Haley pointed out, "but we don't _need_ a video player to play these, we need a _DVD_ player, and we've got one of those."

"I know," Rachel shrugged, "but I was hoping we could watch the infamous sex tape, seeing as you'd kicked me out of the party before the last showing." The redhead smirked, an evil glint in her eye as she continued. "I've always wondered what Nathan looks like naked."

"Yeah, well, keep wondering," Haley bit back sharply, as Brooke threw a pillow across the room at Rachel, who yelped in surprise. "Nathan's body is for my eyes only," she told the girl who only laughed dismissively before turning back to the others, her taunting of Haley over for now.

"So have we found anything to watch yet?" she questioned.

"No," Peyton shook her head, before thinking of something. Quickly she piled all the DVDs into one large stack before glancing back to Rachel. "Pick a number," she told the girl.

"Okay," Rachel smiled, seeing what Peyton was doing. "Ummm…lets see, how about 23?" she suggested, giving Haley another teasing smirk and chuckling as the other girl clenched her fists in suppressed annoyance.

"23 it is," Peyton agreed, counting down from the top of the pile. "And that's," she paused in an attempt to create dramatic tension before pulling the chosen film out of the pile, "_Grease_," she finished unexcitedly.

"Yay!" Brooke and Haley squealed in excitement, the former grabbing the box from Peyton and launching herself towards the DVD player as the boys shook their heads in disbelief.

"Great," Nathan muttered, getting to his feet and plopping down on a sofa, smiling slightly when his wife sat down next to him, and wrapping his arm around her. Rachel and Mouth sprawled out on the floor, whilst Brooke pressed play before joining Peyton and Lucas on the other sofa.

"I'd keep an eye on him Pey," Rachel joked, seeing that Lucas was placed in between the two girls. "God, no-one's got a sense of humour," she muttered, turning back to the screen as three equally un-amused glares hit her.

Several minutes later the group were engrossed by the movie, Brooke and Haley singing along enthusiastically to every song whilst Rachel, Mouth, and occasionally Peyton joined in with the better-known sections.

_Ding-dong_. The doorbell interrupted as Brooke and Haley dueted loudly to _Summer Nights_ and the group glanced at one another in confusion.

"Who's that?" Brooke asked, annoyed that her singing had been interrupted.

"I don't know, but I'm grateful they're here," Lucas muttered, receiving an elbow in the ribs and a glare from the brunette. "You're nearest Peyt," he continued, nudging his girlfriend who got up, sighing.

"I'll pause it," Rachel offered, hitting the button on the remote, and silence encompassed the group as they waited for Peyton's return. Listening carefully, the six teenagers in the living room heard the blonde's footsteps approach the door, the key turning as she unlocked it, and finally her gasp as she saw who was standing before her.

"Jake?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey all and thanks for the reviews - seeing as they were all so nice I thought I'd get chapter ten up a bit faster than I'd been aiming for, so here it is! Just a warning though, there isn't much Brooke in this chapter, and there's far too much Peyton once again, so sorry about that! Anyway, enjoy, and chapter eleven (which I've really enjoyed writing, so that might give you a hint of what's to come!) will probably be up on Sunday. **

**Chapter Ten**

"So how did you know we were here?" Nathan asked curiously some minutes later once the initial shock had disintegrated and the group were scattered on sofas and cushions, Jenny sleeping soundly in her father's arms.

Jake grinned. "Well I went back to Tree Hill to see my folks," he told them, "and when I'd been there a few days without seeing any of you guys I stopped by the Café to ask Karen where you were. Obviously she wasn't there, but the woman who was running the place said you'd gone to the beach for a couple of weeks, and when I said I was a friend she gave me the address. So yeah," he finished with a shrug, "and here we are."

"And Nikki let you bring Jenny?" Peyton questioned, looking at the little girl in awe.

"Yup," the toddler's father confirmed. "It's pretty great actually, Nikki just got accepted to Duke so she'll be moving there in September, and we decided that it would be easier if Jenny just lives with me in Tree Hill, at least until Nikki gets settled."

"That's great," the curly blonde smiled, before pausing for a moment. "Wait, you're moving back to Tree Hill?"

"Looks like the eternal triangle just became a square," Rachel muttered in Brooke's ear, earning herself a swift kick from her friend, which caused her to yelp in surprise.

"That's right," Jake smiled, sending a look of confusion in the direction of the two girls, before shaking his head and continuing. "Anyway, what's been going on with you guys while I've been away?"

"Oh, nothing much," Brooke shrugged nonchalantly, ticking items off on her fingers as she spoke. "Hales and Nate had a baby, so did Karen, Dan got locked up for killing Keith, Peyton and I got attacked by a psycho, Nathan got involved with a loan shark which ended up with Haley getting hit by a car, Luke had a heart attack, the Ravens won State, Mouth got arrested in Texas…" she trailed off, taking a deep breath. "What did I miss?"

"You cheating on your algebra test and me getting expelled for it?" Rachel suggested mockingly. "Or how about the whole class seeing the video of you screwing Nathan?" she tried, smirking at Haley.

"Oh, get over it already," the young mother rolled her eyes exasperatedly and glared at the redhead. "Seriously Rach, your fantasies about my husband are getting old."

The girl opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Jake who fixed his gaze on Haley. "Wait, you and Nathan had a baby?" he asked, sounding dazed by the amount of information that had just been thrown at him.

"We sure did," Nathan replied, re-entering the room with his son in his arms, James sucking contentedly on a bottle. "Jake Jagielski, meet James Lucas Scott."

"He's adorable guys," Jake commented, staring at the infant in wonder. "Congratulations," he added, leaning over to give Haley a hug, and bumping fists with Nathan who sat down on the couch.

"Takes after his uncle," Lucas grinned, taking out his wallet and pulling out a photo, which he passed to Jake. "And that's my little sister," he told his friend, a proud smile on his face, "Lily Rose Scott."

"Wow, how long have I been gone for?" Jake chuckled, smiling at the photo, before returning it to Lucas. "Wait, no one else has had a kid while I've been away have they?" he joked. "Brooke? Peyton?"

"God no," Brooke exclaimed, feigning horror at the prospect, "I'm quite happy playing godmother to this little angel, aren't I sweetheart?" she asked James, taking him from his father and burping him expertly, before settling him in her arms.

"You made _Brooke_ godmother?" Jake questioned, only half-teasing. "Man," he continued, turning to Haley, "you do realise your kid's gonna have no chance? Nathan as a dad and Brooke as godmother…you may as well give him his fake ID now!"

"Hey!" Nathan protested, grinning.

"I'll have you know I've turned over a new leaf since you last saw me Jagielski," Brooke added, simulating annoyance. "I'm a perfect role model now, thank you very much."

"If you say so," Jake snorted in disbelief. "And what was that about cheating on algebra tests?" he teased playfully, remembering Rachel's earlier words.

"Well, okay, maybe not _perfect_," the brunette amended, tearing her eyes away from the infant in her lap to look up at Jake, "but I'm not the S-L-U-T I once was. I was a Clean Teen you know," she added proudly, enjoying the flummoxed look on Jake's face as he stared at her.

"Please," Rachel interjected, rolling her eyes. "You were only a Clean Teen because you were trying to get Chase to sleep with you," she pointed out. "An attempt which failed miserably, might I add," she finished, laughing as her friend stuck out her tongue in response.

"Wait…" Jake paused, his heart racing slightly as he considered the probable implications of Rachel's statement, but knowing he had to hear it for himself. "So if you were off chasing virgins," he directed the question at Brooke, forcing a playful tone, "I take it that means you and Lucas aren't together any more?"

Jake held his breath as Brooke shook her head. "No," she admitted slowly, before answering his unasked next question, seeing the pain in the boy's eyes as she did so. "Lucas is actually with Peyton now," she finished, looking down at James in order to avoid Jake's eyes.

"Oh," he managed, assuming a nonchalant expression. "Well, I guess it was always going to happen eventually, right?" he joked feebly, wincing as a look of guilt crossed Peyton and Lucas's faces, whilst Brooke bit her lip miserably.

"I guess," the brunette whispered, lifting James closer to her face in an attempt to hide the misery in her eyes.

"Okay," Haley's voice broke through the tension in the room, "I think this little one needs to go back to bed," she announced, reaching out to take him from her friend.

"I'll take him Hales," Brooke offered, not wanting to relinquish hold of the comforting body just yet.

Hearing the desperation in the fragile girl's voice, Haley nodded. "Okay," she smiled, dropping a kiss on her son's head. "Night angel," she told him.

"Sleep tight monster," Nathan added, standing up as Brooke did, and stooping to kiss the infant.

"If you want to put Jenny down the two of you can have my room," Mouth told Jake, "I'll sleep on the sofa."

"Thanks Mouth," Jake accepted gratefully, scooping Jenny up and following his friend out of the room.

"Hurry back guys," Haley called after them. "We need to get back to _Grease_!"

"Ugh, I thought they'd forgotten about that," Lucas muttered to his brother, who chuckled in response.

"No chance Broody," Brooke retorted, re-entering the room. "He's out like a light Hales," she told her friend, cutting her off before she even asked the question. "Jake, Mouth, hurry up!" she commanded, grinning as the two boys appeared in the doorway, neither one looking thrilled at the prospect of the film.

"Y'know, I might head to bed myself," Jake tried, faking a yawn, but his attempt was cut off by a fierce glare from the brunette.

"I don't think so Jagielski," she ordered, pushing the boy down on the sofa next to Peyton and settling herself on the floor with Rachel and Mouth. "Hit it Rach," she instructed excitedly, and her friend obliged.

"No singing this time Brooke, please?" Lucas begged, wincing in pain as his former girlfriend reached over and slapped his bare leg. "Okay, okay," he grumbled, "sing all you like."

"You know you love my singing Broody," she teased, laughing as he opened his mouth to argue before closing it again rapidly as she raised a threatening arm.

"Yes, yes, I do," he finally responded, enjoying the excitement that lit up her green eyes as he gave in.

"Good answer," Brooke grinned, before turning to Haley as the next song started up. "Come on rock-tour girl," she exclaimed happily, "let's go." Giggling at her new nickname Haley willingly agreed, and within seconds the cabin was filled with voices, as Rachel, Mouth and Peyton joined in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Morning sleeping bitchy!" Rachel carolled cheerfully, pausing from applying eyeliner as she saw Brooke begin to stir.

"Ugh," Brooke mumbled in disgust, rolling over and closing her eyes again.

"I don't think so," Rachel sing-songed, moving over to Brooke's bed and yanking the covers off her, laughing at the horrified yelp her friend let out.

"I hate you," the brunette muttered fiercely, sitting up and swinging her feet over the side of the bed. "Happy now?" she asked sarcastically, glaring at the redhead who had resumed applying her make-up.

"Ecstatic," Rachel acquiesced agreeably, sticking her tongue out in response to Brooke's rolling eyes. "And what's with all the bitchiness anyway?" she questioned, "shouldn't you be happy now that Jake and…" she paused, unable to remember Jenny's name before shrugging in defeat and concluding her sentence, "now that Jake and the kid are back?"

"Her name's Jenny," Brooke reminded her friend, rubbing her face tiredly. "And yeah, it's good they're back and that Jake and Nikki have sorted out the whole custody thing, but, no offence to Jake, his being here doesn't really excite me all that much."

"Well it should," Rachel remarked mysteriously.

"What?" the brunette asked, brow wrinkling in confusion. "It's way too early to understand your cryptic ramblings."

"Okay, I'll spell it out for you," her friend announced gleefully. "Jake loves Peyton, Peyton loves Jake, Lucas loves Brooke, Brooke loves Lucas. And then Jake leaves. And Brooke and Peyton both love Lucas, and Lucas…well he's just an ass who doesn't know what he wants. But now Jake's back. See where I'm going with this?" she asked her friend, beaming cheerfully.

"Rachel," Brooke warned, firmly pushing away the glimmer of hope that had threatened to escape as she realised the implications of her friend's words. "Nothing's changed," she pointed out. "Peyton and Lucas are still together."

"Not for long I bet," Rachel dismissed Brooke's argument with a wave of her arm. "Did you see the way Jake and Peyton were looking at each other last night? She _so_ wants him back. And understandably, seeing as Lucas is too hung up on you to even screw her properly."

"Lucas is not hung up on me," Brooke retorted, finally standing up and slipping a robe over her shorts and tank top. "And even if he were, I'm not interested in him any more."

"Yeah, whatever," Rachel scoffed, rolling her eyes. "So what, all the times you lie awake crying, that's because of Chase is it? Or that dick Chavez?"

Brooke paused, unsure of how to reply. "I didn't know you knew about that," she admitted finally.

"I share a room with you Davis, how could I not?" the redhead pointed out affably.

"Sorry," the smaller girl winced at the realisation that she had been keeping her friend awake.

"Don't be," Rachel shrugged, "I had years of sleeping when I was fat," she grinned, her smile widening when Brooke let out a small chuckle. "So are you going to admit it then?" she teased.

"Fine," Brooke muttered grudgingly, "but don't you dare tell anyone," she warned.

The redhead snorted. "You do realise that, aside from dumb blondes one and two, everyone knows?" she pointed out. "You're not exactly subtle Davis. Plus, I know you told tutor-bitch, I heard her and Nathan talking about it."

"Wonderful," Brooke whined, sinking back onto her bed, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it.

"So, to go back to my original argument," Rachel continued, "Peyton will realise she still loves Jake, leaving Lucas free for you."

"No," Brooke shook her head firmly. "Even if he and Peyton split up, there's no way I would get involved in that again."

"Sure you wouldn't," Rachel agreed, rolling her eyes in obvious disbelief and letting out a giggle as Brooke groaned.

"I wouldn't!" the brunette protested. "And anyway," she pointed out sadly, "if this little scenario of yours were to come true, then Luke would only be picking me because Peyton didn't want him anymore, and I'm not gonna be his second choice Rach, not again."

The redhead sighed, hearing the quiver in her friend's voice and realising she was once again close to tears. "Much as it pains me to defend Lucas," she stated, "seeing as the guy's an ass, I really don't think you could ever be his second choice."

"But…" Brooke began to argue, closing her mouth again when Rachel raised a hand to cut her off.

"Brooke, Lucas went after Peyton because _you_ told him to," she reminded her friend. "I know when you were together he kept 'rescuing' the stupid bitch, but that was because she asked him to; he was just trying to be a good friend. Luke never actually went after Peyton until you told him he could, just remember that."

"Since when are you on Lucas's side?" the brunette muttered irritably, glaring at Rachel, who shrugged.

"I'm not," she admitted. "I'm just trying to make you see that, no matter how much of a dick to you he was, he really does love you." Seeing Brooke's quizzical gaze the redhead laughed, and spread her arms in a gesture of defeat. "Okay, okay, I'll stop with the sentimental crap, I know it freaks you out when I'm not being a bitch, but just think about what I said, 'kay?"

"Okay," Brooke nodded slowly, still confused by the sudden emergence of Rachel's sensitive side.

"Good," the redhead grinned happily, bending to pull a white bikini out of a drawer and tossing it to Brooke. "Here, put this on," she instructed, "make sure Lucas knows what he's missing." Smirking, Rachel paused to admire herself in the mirror, knowing that the dark green two-piece suited her to perfection. "Y'know," she mused contemplatively, "if Peyton does stay with Lucas, maybe I'll have a crack at Jake…he's kinda hot."

Brooke rolled her eyes, slipping her robe and tank top off and putting on the top to the bikini Rachel had chosen. "Slut," she teased affably.

"Takes one to know one," the other girl taunted, laughing, as she slipped her flip-flops onto her feet and pranced out of the room, leaving Brooke to roll her eyes at the closing door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys," Peyton smiled as she approached Jake who was kneeling on the beach, helping Jenny build a sandcastle.

"Hey," Jake smiled back, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her, and she gulped slightly, feeling suddenly nervous.

"Mind if I join you?" the girl asked, forcing herself to keep her tone light, and sitting down beside Jake when he patted the sand in answer to her questions. "Hey Jenny," she added, focusing on the little girl, who was carefully pressing shells into the walls of the castle that her father had built.

"'Ello," Jenny replied solemnly, turning to look at Peyton. "Who this?" she enquired of Jake.

"You know Peyton," Jake told his daughter, clearly pronouncing the name so that Jenny could repeat it. "She used to look after you when you were a baby," he added.

"Pey-pey," Jenny tried, and the two teens chuckled.

"Close enough," Peyton agreed affably, smiling as the toddler approached her, grabbing a lock of curly hair as if to inspect it.

"Jenny," Jake scolded, prising the little girl's fingers away, "you know you shouldn't grab people's hair, it's not nice."

"Mommy lets me," Jenny protested, pouting at her father, and a stab of jealousy shot through Peyton's heart as she recognised the pout as identical to the one Nikki had perfected.

Jake sighed. "Yes, but just because mommy doesn't mind you pulling her hair doesn't mean you can pull other people's, okay?"

"Okay," the toddler repeated agreeably, turning back to her sandcastle as Jake and Peyton watched her.

"She's got so big," Peyton breathed, amazed at the changes that Jenny had undergone since she had last seen the child. "She's like a whole little person."

Jake chuckled. "Yup," he agreed, a serious expression creeping onto his face as he watched his daughter play. "It's scary," he admitted, "it seems like only yesterday that she was the age James is now. But really time goes so quick that before I know it she'll be in high school and I'll be warning off potential boyfriends."

Peyton grinned. "You think you've got till she gets to high school?" she teased, raising her eyebrows. "Brooke had her first boyfriend in kindergarten," she told him, laughing at the memory of her friend approaching a little boy in the playground and kissing him, before proclaiming that he was now her boyfriend and that meant he had to buy her something pretty. _He had blond hair and blue eyes too_, she thought wryly, losing herself in her thoughts for a moment before Jake's voice pulled her back to earth.

"Oh God, don't tell me that," he groaned, causing her to giggle helplessly. For a moment the silence hung peacefully in the air between them, broken only by Jenny chattering away to herself about how best to build the castle, before Jake continued, asking a question he had been wondering about since the previous night. "So," he started, "Brooke said last night that two of you were, and I quote, 'attacked by a psycho'. What was that all about?"

The blonde girl sighed, not really wanting to tell the story, but doing so anyway. "You remember I told you about Ellie, my birth mom," she began, continuing on Jake's nod, "well when she died, I found a letter, telling me I had a brother, Derek. So I, stupidly, put out a pod cast talking about him, and this guy shows up, claiming he's Derek. Anyway, he seemed okay at first, but Lucas didn't trust him and went to the police," she paused to let out a shaky breath. "Turns out 'Derek' had been stalking me, he had a room full of photos of me: it was really freaky. And then my real brother turns up, and between him, Luke, and me we end up pushing crazy Derek out of the window. I thought he was dead, but by the time the police got there he'd just got up and walked off."

"Pey," Jake breathed, not knowing how to respond to his former girlfriend's story, but she merely smiled ruefully and continued.

"Things went almost back to normal after that: I got a call telling me psycho Derek was in jail, and my real brother taught me to box so I began to feel like I was safe again. And then on prom night, Lucas and I had had a row about Brooke, because we'd all just found out she slept with Nathan not even hours after me and him had broken up for the millionth time…but that's another story," she smiled, seeing the confusion appear on Jake's face. "Anyway, I open the door and all I see is the back of his head, so I think it's Lucas, but then he turns around and it's psycho Derek. He was never arrested after all; he made that call to me so that I would let my guard down. So Derek takes me down to the basement, ties me to a chair, and he's got a knife Jake." Peyton stopped, taking a deep breath, and Jake wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Thanks," she muttered, before returning to her tale. "And then Brooke appears, wanting another screaming match or something, and Derek ties her up too. But somehow I manage to convince him that he should let me…let me kill Brooke… so he unties me, and I have to hit her really hard to make him believe I can go through with it. And then, then he gives me the knife, and I stab him, and we get away, but then he comes after us, and it's all a bit of blur, but somehow we push him down the stairs, and this time the police get here in time," she finished, gulping hard to prevent a sob from escaping.

"I'm so sorry Peyt," Jake whispered, tightening his grip on the girl, and she gave a small half-smile, still trembling slightly.

"It turned out that his real name was Ian, and he'd had a girlfriend that looked just like me," Peyton finished the story, her tone calming now that she had passed over the climax. "But they were in a car crash and she died. I guess it sent him a bit insane, y'know?"

Jake sighed. "I wish I'd been there for you," he told the blonde girl, before realising the inappropriate nature of the remark. "Although, I guess you had Lucas," he added hastily.

Peyton nodded. "Yeah, Luke was great," she admitted. "Brooke and I stayed at his house for like a week afterwards, neither of us could sleep alone."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "You, Brooke, and Lucas, all in one bed?" he questioned, a chuckle in his voice. "I bet that was interesting!"

She smiled wryly. "Well we didn't let Luke sleep in the middle," she clarified, laughing, before sinking into silence once again.

"Are you happy with him?" Jake asked, in a voice so soft she wasn't sure she had heard him until a look at his face confirmed it.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I mean, he's like my best friend, but that's all he is, my best friend. There's no passion, y'know? Not like…"

"Not like we had," Jake finished, staring deep into her eyes, and she bit her lip in a conscious effort to prevent herself from leaning over and kissing him.

"No," she agreed quietly. "Ummm, listen, I'd better go," she added, hastily getting to her feet.

"Don't," Jake protested, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."

Peyton smiled sadly. "I know," she acknowledged his words. "But I wanted it to. And it can't Jake, it can't. At least not until I talk to Lucas, it wouldn't be fair on him."

Jake nodded, his heart leaping for joy at the implications of her words. "I'll see you later then?" he asked carefully, and she nodded, her smile growing wider as she watched him.

"Definitely."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey," Peyton smiled as she opened the door of the bedroom she and Lucas shared to find her boyfriend lying on the bed, book in hand.

"Hey," Lucas responded, closing his book as he saw the nervous expression that clouded the blonde's features as she sat down next to him. "What's up?" he asked gently.

Peyton took a deep breath. "So I was talking to Jake earlier…" she began hesitantly.

"It's over, isn't it?" Lucas interrupted, a sad note to his voice.

The girl nodded sorrowfully. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Lucas smiled, knowing that Peyton had made the right decision. "You're still in love with Jake, aren't you?" he asked, no malice in his tone.

"Yeah," Peyton agreed, a trace of guilt tainting her words. "I'm sorry Luke," she tried, "I didn't mean for this to happen…"

"I know," Lucas whispered. "Truth be told, I'm glad Jake came back," he admitted, causing Peyton to look at him quizzically for a moment, before understanding lightened her features.

"I guess if he hadn't we'd have just gone on like this forever," she admitted quietly, holding Lucas's gaze as he nodded. "Do you think it could ever have worked between us?" she asked suddenly. "If it wasn't for Jake…and Brooke?"

The blond boy sighed. "I don't know," he murmured. "I guess if they hadn't existed then neither of us would have known what it _could_ feel like, so maybe we'd have lasted longer with nothing to compare it to."

Peyton nodded, seeing the logic in his reasoning. "I suppose we're just doomed to be friends then," she grinned, and Lucas chuckled, glad to see the smile on her face.

"Suppose so," he agreed affably, giving the girl a quick hug and dropping a kiss into her curls. "Now, _friend_," he instructed, emphasising the word, "go sort things out with Jake."

The girl chuckled. "Well, I think I'll leave it a day or two first," she laughed, "otherwise I might have to take Rachel's crown as Queen Slut, and you know she'd be pissed about that."

"Well alright then," Lucas smirked, his expression turning serious almost immediately. "Be happy Pey," he told her solemnly.

"You too," she whispered, climbing off the bed and heading towards the door. Turning back to him she paused, her hand on the doorknob. "Don't hurt her Luke," she cautioned, and then she was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, okay, I know I said Sunday for this chapter and it's actually Monday but hey, that's close enough, right? Anyway, I got less reviews for the last chapter than I've had for any of the others apart from the first one, which kind of sucked, but I'm hoping that that was because everyone's on holiday or something and not because people are getting bored with it - fingers crossed. But thanks to all the wonderful people who are still reviewing, and I hope you like this one…**

**Chapter Eleven**

"And Nathan Scott takes it to the free throw line, if he sinks this then it's game over. He shoots…and it's nothing but net. And that's all folks, Scott 21 – Jagielski 17," Mouth commentated, sitting on a sunlounger on the edge of the makeshift court that Nathan and Lucas had set up around the one hoop that hung to the side of the cabin. James's carrycot sat on the floor next to the boy, and the baby gurgled happily as Jenny chattered away to him. "Bad luck Jake," Mouth added, as the older of the two players collapsed to the floor beside him, wiping his brow with his arm.

"Nice game Jagielski," Nathan chuckled, setting the ball on the ground and perching himself on it. "You should give Luke a game," he suggested, seeing his brother approach, "you'd probably win…what do you say Luke?" he added, this last to the older Scott who joined the trio, sitting down next to Mouth on the sunlounger.

"Huh?" Lucas asked, staring blankly at his younger brother who sighed, waving his fingers in front of the blond boy's eyes in an effort to gain his attention.

"Earth to Lucas, come in Lucas," Nathan tried, rolling his eyes when the other boy failed to show any awareness. "What's up bro?" he asked finally, a hint of concern in his voice.

Lucas smiled vacantly, his brother's words finally registering. "Peyton and I broke up," he admitted finally, staring at his feet and so missing the small smile that crossed Jake's face and the knowing gaze that Mouth and Nathan shared.

"That sucks man," Mouth tried. "What happened?"

The older Scott shrugged. "It just wasn't right," he muttered. "There was no real spark there, y'know?" Maybe we should have just stayed friends."

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he agreed. "You and Peyton are way too similar to be a couple," he opined. "Hell, she's you, but hot!"

"Don't let Haley hear you say that," Jake warned, laughing at the younger Scott's words.

"And you know I'm hot too," Lucas protested, sticking out his bottom lip and fluttering his eyelashes at his brother.

"Dude, that's wrong on so many levels," Mouth chuckled, laughing harder at the horrified expression that crossed Nathan's face, before suddenly turning serious and fixing his eyes on Lucas. "Does Brooke know?" he asked, worry creeping into his voice as he wondered how his friend would react to the news.

The blond boy shrugged. "Not as far as I know," he replied. "It's not going to bother her though, is it?" he questioned obliviously, causing Nathan to roll his eyes at his sibling's naivety.

"Looks like we're about to find out," he responded, gesturing in the direction of the blonde girl, who was approaching the hot tub where Brooke, Haley and Rachel were sat. "Damn, I wish I could hear what they're saying," he added grumpily as the other boys spun around to stare in the direction of the girls, wondering what was about to happen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys," Peyton greeted the other girls as she joined them in the hot tub where they were attempting to enjoy a relaxing afternoon, a task that was made difficult by Rachel and Haley, who were sniping at one another relentlessly.

"Hey P. Sawyer," Brooke beamed, grateful to have someone to help her referee her friends, who were starting to drive her insane.

"Hey Peyt," Haley added, smiling at the curly blonde, whilst Rachel merely rolled her eyes, annoyed that her bickering had been interrupted.

"So what's up Blondie?" Brooke questioned cheerfully, noting the tension on her best friend's face as she sat down next to Haley, who was positioned across from the other two girls, directly opposite Brooke.

"Umm, well actually," Peyton began, feeling slightly embarrassed at having to blurt this out in front of everyone but realising that sooner or later the others would have to know, "Lucas and I…we broke up."

For a moment there was near complete silence, broken only by what sounded like a cough from Rachel, although Brooke could have sworn it was actually a poorly disguised laugh. "What?" the brunette finally managed feebly, ignoring the worried glance she received from Haley and focusing her eyes on the blonde. "Why?"

Peyton shrugged. "I guess we realised we didn't really love each other," she answered honestly, looking down at the water and so missing Rachel's eyebrows shoot up in disbelief whilst Haley's expression grew even more worried.

"You didn't _love_ him?" Brooke questioned, her voice quivering slightly in disbelief.

The blonde girl shrugged again, unable to meet her friend's eyes. "I thought I did," she tried, "but it was never like it was with Jake. I think maybe we should have just stayed friends."

"Un-fucking-believable," Rachel exclaimed angrily, amazed at the girl's lack of sensitivity. Incensed, she began to get to her feet, ready to knock some sense into the blonde, but before she could do so she was interrupted by a loud _thwack_ as Brooke launched across the hot tub and slapped Peyton hard across the face.

"You _bitch_," Brooke hissed, staring into her friend's eyes, which shot wide with a blend of surprise and terror. "The two of you break my heart, _twice_, and then you sit here and tell me, 'oh no Brooke, actually I don't really love him?'" Peyton gulped, unable to respond, but there was no need for her to do so as the brunette continued, her voice rising as it began to fill with tears. "_I_ love him Peyton," she cried, her anger preventing her from noticing the use of the present tense, "but I gave him up because you wanted him!"

"I never asked you to," Peyton protested feebly, but even as she spoke she knew her words had only served to further irritate the angry brunette.

"No Peyton, you never _asked_ me to," she screamed, "you just told me that you loved him! What the fuck did you think was going to happen, huh? That I was just gonna say, 'oh well, Peyton wants Lucas _again_, but that's okay because I know the two of them would _never_ betray me?'" The sarcasm in her voice cut through the air like a knife and Peyton flinched visibly as Brooke continued. "I gave him up because I _knew_ that sooner or later he'd go to you, and I couldn't live with the wondering taking over my life. And it _killed_ me to lose him, but I forgave you because I thought the two of you were happy together, and I wanted you to be happy Pey. But now _this_?" Tears threatened to spill and Brooke paused to brush them away.

"Brooke…" Peyton began, but then trailed off, unable to think of any words to erase the pain she had inflicted on her friend.

"No!" the brunette cut her off sharply. "There is _nothing_ you can say to make this better Peyton, _nothing_. You destroyed me, my heart, my trust, my hope, _everything_. And all for nothing." Sobs threatened to overcome her, and not trusting herself to say anything else she turned and ran, refusing to let the tears fall until the cabin door slammed behind her.

Silence reigned for a second as the three remaining girls attempted to process Brooke's outburst. However, the quiet was immediately destroyed by Rachel, who brought her hands together in mocking applause. "And people say _I'm_ a bitch," she commented dryly, glaring at the girl opposite her.

"I didn't mean…" Peyton attempted, but the redhead cut her off.

"Let me tell you something Peyton," Rachel spat, "and make sure you listen carefully. You don't deserve to have that girl in your life. You claim to be her best friend, and yet you didn't even realise that that was going to upset her?" She shook her head in disbelief, venom creeping into her voice as she continued. "Friendship's a two-way street Peyton, and all you do is take, take, take."

"That's not fair," the blonde protested but again Rachel interrupted her argument, raising a hand in warning.

"Fair?" she questioned harshly. "No, it's not fair. Not fair that Brooke has done _everything_ for you: supported you through the deaths of two moms, saved you from psycho-Derek, gave up the man she _loved_ because you thought you loved him too. And you? When Brooke really needed a friend the last few months, where were you Peyton?" she snorted in disgust before answering her own question. "Oh yeah, that's right. When your so-called _best friend_ was crying herself to sleep over Lucas, you were really helpful weren't you?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Yeah, I'm sure Brooke found it a real comfort to know that the person she was supposed to be able to lean on was out there, _fucking_ the boy who broke her heart." Shaking her head, Rachel sat back in her seat. "You disgust me," she muttered finally.

Shaking from the force of Rachel's attack, Peyton turned to the girl next to her, desperate for a shred of sympathy. "Hales?" she whispered uncertainly.

Haley sighed, trying to balance Peyton's naivety with Brooke's destruction. "I hate to say it Pey," she admitted softly, "but Rachel's right." The redhead smirked victoriously as Haley rolled her eyes at her before continuing. "I know you thought you loved Lucas, and I know you didn't mean to hurt Brooke, but the fact is you went after her boyfriend _twice_, and now you're saying it didn't even mean anything?" Shaking her head sadly she continued, getting to her feet and moving to follow Rachel indoors, "Brooke will forgive you, she always does," she told the blonde girl, "but this time? This time I'm not sure you deserve it." Giving her friend one last sad smile, the young mother turned, leaving Peyton to watch the two girls head inside to comfort her best friend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hmmm, looks like Brooke took the news well then," Nathan observed sarcastically, as he watched the brunette run into the cabin, obviously upset.

"Maybe I should go check on her?" Mouth suggested, clearly concerned about his friend.

"Nah, it's okay, Haley and Rachel are going," the younger Scott brother noted, seeing the two girls get out of the hot tub and follow their friend.

"Why is she so upset?" Lucas wondered, clearly worried about his former girlfriend.

"Uh, because Peyton just told her that you two have broken up maybe?" Nathan suggested sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his brother's naivety.

Lucas ran his hands through his hair, clearly confused. "Why would that upset her?" he questioned.

Nathan sighed, grabbing the ball from Jake and making an effortless jump shot before turning back to his brother. "Well without knowing exactly what Peyton said I can't be completely sure," he admitted, "but assuming she told Brooke that you and her should never have become a couple, I think it's pretty obvious what the problem is." Seeing the incomprehension on Lucas's face Nathan rolled his eyes. "Clearly not," he muttered, before elaborating. "Brooke pushed you away because she thought you loved Peyton, and you let her. And now she's hearing that you don't love Peyton, and so she thinks that you just let her walk away because you didn't care about her. Make sense?"

"But that's not true!" Lucas protested. "Brooke finished with me, she told me that she wasn't going to fight for me, and she told me to go to Peyton."

"But that's just how Brooke is," Mouth interjected. "She was scared of getting hurt so she finished things before you got the chance. She was protecting her heart Luke."

"Plus," Nathan continued, tossing the ball from one hand to the other as he spoke, "now that you and Peyton are through, Brooke's lost her safety net."

"Her what?" Lucas asked in confusion, still trying to process the information he had just heard.

Nathan sighed again, amazed at how dense his brother was capable of being. "Brooke's still in love with you," he announced, ignoring Mouth's warning glare. "But while you were with Peyton there was no chance of anything happening between you, because there's no way Brooke would have done that to Peyton." Nathan paused and Lucas winced as the implications of his brother's words hit. "Now, though, you're both single, and there's nothing to protect her from the way she feels," the boy finished as though it were obvious, sinking another basket as he spoke.

"Brooke isn't still in love with me," Lucas argued feebly, trying to quell the hope that had risen within him at his brother's words.

The younger Scott snorted. "Well let's put it this way," he suggested, "Brooke loves you about as much as you love her. What does that tell you?"

Lucas sighed, unable to dispute Nathan's interpretation of his feelings. "Is it that obvious?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah," Jake answered, chuckling. "And I've been here less than a day!"

Mouth grinned, amused by his friend's obliviousness. "You could cut the sexual tension between you with a knife," he snorted. "Actually, I'm amazed Peyton didn't break up with you sooner."

"Oh crap," Lucas groaned, throwing his head into his hands dramatically. "So what do I do now?" he asked desperately.

"You don't _do_ anything you idiot," Nathan cautioned. "I'm serious Luke, if you go and tell Brooke how you feel now, you'll destroy any chance you have with her. She needs to know that it's her that you want, and that you're not just on the rebound from Peyton."

"Right," Lucas nodded, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "I need to see her," he told the others.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Luke," Mouth advised carefully. "She looked pretty upset…"

"I know," Lucas nodded resolutely. "But I can't not go, I need to know she's okay."

Mouth sighed, exchanging a glance with Nathan who looked equally worried. "Just be careful Luke," he managed finally, but his words went unheeded as Lucas jogged off, disappearing inside the cabin before Mouth had even completed his sentence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can I see her?" Lucas asked of the two girls who had exited Brooke's room at the sound of his knock and were now standing in front of the door, preventing him from entering.

"No," Rachel answered bluntly, fixing him with a venomous stare.

Lucas sighed. "Please?" he begged, turning to face Haley, who ran her fingers through her hair uncertainly.

She shrugged. "I doubt she'll speak to you," she hedged. "She won't even speak to us."

"And we're not the ones who just shattered her heart, _again_," Rachel added harshly, enjoying the guilty expression that crossed the boys face as her words hit him.

"Please?" he asked again, choosing not to try and argue with Rachel.

The girls looked at one another, communicating silently whilst he waited. "Fine," the redhead finally muttered, pushing herself away from the door. "I'm going to find Mouth," she mumbled, "he's the only sane person in this place."

Haley rolled her eyes at the retreating girl before turning back to her friend, eyes serious. "Be careful Luke," she warned, and he nodded, waiting for her to leave before gently opening the door and tiptoeing inside.

"Brooke?" he whispered to the fragile figure who sat on the bed furthest away from him, hugging her knees tightly to her chest.

"Fuck off Lucas," she spat harshly without even raising her head, and the boy recoiled, uncertain of how to react to the poisonous tone in her voice.

"I'm sorry," he murmured finally, looking up in surprise when she let out a bitter laugh at his words, raising her head and glaring straight into his eyes.

"_Sorry_?" Brooke repeated incredulously. "Sorry for what Luke?" she asked, springing from the bed in anger and throwing the towel that had been wrapped around her to the floor. "Sorry for _what_?" she demanded again, shouting this time.

"Uh…" Lucas froze, the sight of Brooke in her bikini sending all blood away from his brain. _Think, Goddammit_, he urged himself silently, forcing his eyes away from the brunette's cleavage, which was heaving uncontrollably as she shook with rage. "For dating Peyton?" he tried uncertainly, wincing as the expression on Brooke's face told him he had again said the wrong thing.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke in slow, measured tones, as though explaining something to a small child. "I'm not mad at you for _dating_ Peyton," she told him, "I told you to go to her, remember?" Seeing the blank expression on Lucas's face she sighed and continued. "I'm mad because you _stopped_ dating her."

The boy racked his brains for a moment, trying to remember Nathan's explanation for Brooke's behaviour, but finding himself unable to think of anything apart from the beauty in front of him. "I don't get it," he mumbled finally, causing Brooke to groan in frustration.

"I loved you Lucas, more than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone," she explained gently, unable to prevent a tear from trickling from her eye as she spoke. "So when I found out that you had kissed Peyton, _again_, I pushed you away, knowing that either you would come back to me, or you would go to her. And when you chose her, I tried to be happy for you, I really did, but now…" her voice trailed off and she paused to brush away the tears that were now cascading down her cheeks, "now I hear that you don't really love her. And if you don't love Peyton, Lucas, yet you chose her over me, then what does that say about how much you loved me?"

"Brooke…" Lucas trailed off, reaching towards the broken girl and pulling her towards him. "Brooke," he repeated, tilting her head towards him and forcing her to look into his eyes, "I could never love anyone more than I love you pretty girl," he whispered, pushing Nathan's words of advice out of his head and concentrating on Brooke's dazzling green eyes, and for a second she relaxed in his arms and he almost smiled.

But then she broke away again, pushing him away from her, snorting in disbelief. "Don't even think about it Lucas Scott," she warned, eyes flashing. "I am _not_ going to be your consolation prize. You don't get to come in here and spout all this crap about how you never really loved Peyton, blah blah blah –"

"I _did_ love Peyton!" Lucas exploded in frustration, "it's just…it wasn't the same."

"You mean you couldn't get her to spread her legs as easily?" Brooke spat back hotly.

"It wasn't about that!" the boy argued fiercely, running his hands over his head in annoyance.

"Oh no, sorry, of course it wasn't," the brunette retorted sarcastically, "one shouldn't talk about Princess Peyton in such a coarse manner," she mocked, feigning a posh British accent and a part of him wanted to laugh at the expression on her face.

Sighing, he tried again. "I meant that isn't what you and me were about," he murmured quietly. "I mean," he continued, a wicked grin lighting up his eyes, "the sex was great, but-"

"Damn you Lucas!" Brooke exploded, cutting off the end of his sentence, "this isn't a fucking joke!"

"I know," he protested, scared by her sudden anger.

"Then don't try to make it one!" she continued, voice rising even further as she stormed towards him, until she was so close that her hair grazed his bare arms as she shook her head in fury. "You broke my heart Luke, you and my whore of a best friend, so don't you dare stand there and make jokes about it, just-"

This time it was his turn to interrupt her, grabbing her waist and pulling her towards him, crashing his lips onto hers so hard that it hurt. For a moment she struggled, and then he felt her arms wrap around his neck as he lifted her up, forcing her to entwine her legs around his waist as they deepened the kiss, tongues battling for dominance as the passion between the former lovers finally ignited.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**Hey guys! Okay, first of all, thank you all so so much for reviewing the last chapter – I actually made fifty reviews which is absolutely awesome, so huge thanks to every single one of you, I really do appreciate it : ) And now on to the apologies…sorry it took so long for this update, my computer is being really annoying at the minute and it lost the first draft of this update, as well as my plan for the next one, grrr! And…please don't hate me…but this will be the last chapter for a few weeks. Some of you may remember me saying I'm writing my MA dissertation, well it's due in at the end of September and at the minute it's a complete disaster! So I'm not allowing myself anywhere near this story until it's handed in! But don't worry, I will get back to it in October! Having said that, I have got a bit of writer's block with where to go next…I'd kind of thought about how to break Peyton and Lucas up and get Jake back everything and not really got much further than that (although obviously I know I've got to get Brucas together!) So yeah, what I'm trying to say is that if anyone has any ideas of things they would like to see happen, either particular scenes or ideas for an ending…well, all input would be great! Even if I don't use everyone's ideas it might well get my brain back into writing mode, and that's gotta be good, right? Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and I promise I'll be back in a few weeks with a new one, so please don't forget about the story! x**

"Oww!" Lucas screamed in shock and pain as Brooke's palm connected with his cheek.

"Get off me Luke!" the brunette shouted, anger dominating her voice as she fought to free herself of him, digging her nails into his chest in an attempt to push him away.

"Alright, alright," the boy gasped, removing his arms from her waist and letting her fall to the floor. "Jesus Brooke," he muttered, rubbing his stinging cheek.

"What the _fuck_ was that Lucas Scott?" Brooke demanded hotly, punctuating each word with a push as she aimed to evict him from her bedroom.

"I'm sorry Brooke," Lucas tried, doing his best to avoid the blows that were being rained on him.

"_Sorry_?" she screamed, her voice even louder as tears streamed down her cheeks. Lucas longed to comfort her, to take her in his arms, but as he reached out to touch her she lashed out again, beating her hands against his chest so as to keep him at arms length.

"Brooke!" he shouted desperately, wrapping his arms around his chest for protection and edging backwards away from the girl, almost colliding with Nathan and Haley who had burst into the room at the sound of screaming.

"Okay, Brooke, calm down," Nathan murmured, scooping the girl up effortlessly and cradling her in his arms as though she was no bigger than James, ignoring the feeble kicks she threw at him and holding her tight, until finally she lay still, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Come on Luke," Haley whispered, seeing the fight drain from the brunette's face and taking her friend's hand. Numbly, he followed her, not taking his eyes of the girl in his brother's arms until the door had closed behind him.

"Shhh, it's okay," Nathan tried, sitting down on Brooke's bed, the sobbing girl still in his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her and dropping a soothing kiss on her hair. "It's okay," he repeated gently.

"No it's not," the brunette argued, grabbing the front of Nathan's shirt and drying her eyes with it, ignoring his chuckle of protest. "Your brother's an ass," she muttered darkly, eyes flashing with anger and yet more tears.

Nathan sighed. "I know," he agreed. "What did he do this time?" he asked, uncertain of whether he really wanted to hear the answer.

"He broke up with Peyton," Brooke whispered, hoping that the younger Scott would understand why this had upset her so much, and feeling a wave of relief as he nodded. "And then he kissed me," she muttered, turning her face away from Nathan's so that he didn't see the corners of her mouth threaten to turn up in a traitorous smile as she remembered the moment.

"He _kissed_ you?" the boy repeated incredulously, unable to believe Lucas's stupidity. Shaking his head, he exhaled slowly, uncertain of how to process this information. "Why don't you tell me what happened from the beginning?" he suggested finally.

Brooke shrugged, leaning against Nathan's head in an attempt to draw comfort from his warm body. "I don't know," she whispered, "he came to see if I was okay, but then he didn't even understand why I was upset in the first place, which just shows how little he ever understood me," she finished bitterly. "And then, I tried to explain it to him, and we just ended up fighting, and then he kissed me. And the stupidest thing of all?" she added, a ghost of a smile appearing through the tears, "I wasn't really even mad at him Nate."

Nathan frowned, confused by his friend's last statement. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You sure sounded as though you were mad at him."

The fragile girl sighed, looking down into her lap and speaking quietly, as though to herself. "I'm mad at Peyton," she clarified. "I gave up Lucas for her and for nothing. But that wasn't really Luke's fault, so I'm not really mad at him," she repeated, "I'm just scared. Scared that Lucas might not want me after all, and even more scared that he might. So I shouted at him to push him away. Does that make any sense?" she questioned, finally looking up into the blue eyes that were almost, but not quite, the same as his brother's.

"Yeah, it does," the boy nodded. "It's not easy getting back in the ring with the one that knocked you out in the first place, right?" he smiled, paraphrasing the words he had said to Brooke a year previously.

Brooke chuckled. "Can't you think of anything original to say?" she teased, causing Nathan to laugh in relief at the smile on her face. "Anyway," she shrugged sadly, a cloud passing across her green eyes, darkening them, "I'm not going back there Nate, I can't do that to myself again." 

Nathan sighed. "Lucas loves you Brooke," he told her gently. "He does," he repeated, cutting her off as she opened her mouth to protest, "he's just not very good at showing it."

"Well you got that right," she muttered darkly, biting her lip, before shaking her head as though to clear it. "Anyway, we're proabably reading too much into this," she tried, "it was only a kiss after all. Let's face it," she snorted angrily, "now that he doesn't have Peyton any more, Luke probably wants an easy lay. And who better than Brooke Davis for that, huh?" she asked sarcastically, tears of self-loathing springing to her eyes as she clenched her fists furiously.

Nathan sighed again, cupping Brooke's chin gently with one hand and tilting her face towards his, enabling him to look into her eyes. "You've got to stop thinking of yourself like that Brooke," he told her firmly. "That's not how Lucas sees you, hell, it's not how anyone sees you any more, and it shouldn't be how you see yourself." Seeing her open her mouth to protest, he placed a gentle finger over her lips and continued. "I know what you're doing," he told her, "pretending that you're just a hard-faced bitch who sleeps around, just so that you don't have to let anyone in. Well it's not gonna work Brooke, because if that's all you were, do you really think you'd be in here crying your heart out?"

Brooke shrugged, annoyed that he'd seen past her façade. "Life was easy when I was a whore," she muttered, and the boy chuckled, amused at her choice of words.

"Maybe so," he agreed, "but you deserve better than that."

"You mean Lucas?" the girl snorted. "I'd rather take my chances with an STD."

Nathan laughed, rolling his eyes before turning serious again. "What are you going to do?" he asked gently, concern filling his voice.

The brunette shrugged again. "I don't know," she whispered finally. "I guess we can try and be friends again, Peyton too. Hell, it's not as if they can hurt me any more, right?" she added bitterly, a glint of anger returning to her green orbs.

"Just friends?" Nathan prodded carefully, knowing that Brooke could never really be just friends with his brother.

She nodded sadly. "I love him Nate," she murmured, tears beginning to fall as she spoke, " but I can't trust him."

The boy sighed in understanding, pulling Brooke closer and kissing her gently on the forehead. "Why don't you try and get some sleep?" he suggested finally, and she nodded in agreement, climbing off his lap and pulling Lucas's hoodie out from under her pillow. Nathan raised an eyebrow as she slipped it over her head, but said nothing, shifting from his position to make room for her to slip beneath the covers.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked suspiciously as the younger Scott lay down beside her, cradling her comfortingly from on top of the duvet.

"I'm waiting till you fall asleep," he stated simply, and she smiled.

"Tutor-girl's got you well trained," she joked, and he chuckled.

"Just go to sleep Brooke," he retorted teasingly, and with a faint smile on her tear-stained face the broken girl finally closed her eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well?" Haley demanded, leading Lucas into the living room and pushing him down onto a sofa, standing before him with a violent expression in her eyes. "What did you do Luke?"

Lucas sighed, still uncertain of how things had changed so dramatically for the worse in such a short period of time. "I kissed her," he admitted finally, ducking his head to avoid seeing the fury in his best friend's eyes. "I know it was stupid," he continued, "but she was so close to me, and all I wanted was to reach out and touch her, and then I just couldn't take it any more, so I did it. And for a minute it was perfect Hales," he whispered sadly, looking up finally and allowing the girl to see the pain clouding his blue eyes as he spoke. "It was perfect," he repeated, almost dreamily, "and then, well, I guess she came to her senses, and beat the crap out of me." The boy let out a dry, humourless laugh as he gestured to the scratches and bruises that now adorned his chest.

"Well I won't say you didn't deserve that," Haley growled, but less fiercely than she had spoken previously. "God Luke, what were you thinking?" she asked exasperatedly, sinking down onto the sofa next to him. "You break up with Peyton and then start kissing Brooke less than an hour later?"

"Hey, at least I broke up with Peyton first," Lucas tried, wincing as Haley jabbed an elbow into his ribs. "Okay, not funny," he admitted, "But was the abuse really necessary? I'm already in pain here!"

"Good," the girl muttered. "So?" she questioned again, "do I get a proper answer? Because jokes really aren't helpful here, not one when of the people I love most in the world is crying her heart down the hall." 

Lucas bit his lip guiltily, glancing in the direction of Brooke and Rachel's bedroom as though it would help him see what was going on in there. "I dunno Hales," he started, running his hands through his hair in confusion, "I guess I wasn't thinking. She was so upset, and I kept saying the wrong thing and making it worse, and I just wanted to stop her from hurting." The boy smiled sadly, before continuing, his voice dropping to an almost inaudible whisper. "It's what I used to do when we were dating," he confided, "she'd get mad about some stupid little thing I'd done, and start yelling at me, and she'd just look so hot that I wouldn't be able to resist kissing her, and, well…"

"You'd end up having sex and never sort out the problem?" Haley finished sarcastically, rolling her eyes as Lucas nodded. "Word of advice Luke, just in case Brooke ever does decide to forgive you, that's probably not the best way to sort out problems in your relationship."

The boy rolled his eyes. "You know, being married doesn't mean you get to tell the rest of us how we should behave," he muttered crossly, before catching himself as he saw a flicker of hurt cross Haley's eyes. "Sorry Hales," he murmured apologetically, patting her knee, "I shouldn't be taking it out on you. It's just…" he paused for a moment, exhaling loudly, "I'm not sure she ever will forgive me," he finished sadly. "I really screwed things up this time."

"Yeah, you did," his friend agreed, chuckling at the pained expression on Lucas's face.

"Hey, I thought you were meant to be making me feel better," he protested in mock outrage.

Haley grinned, pleased to hear the faint amusement in her friend's voice. "Well I haven't decided yet if you deserve to feel better," she joked, before the smile disappeared from her face as the sound of Brooke's crying drifted under her bedroom door and infiltrated the living room, mingled with Nathan's deep murmurings of comfort.

Lucas winced, feeling a physical pain as he listened to Brooke's heartbreak. "What do I do Hales?" he begged desperately of his friend.

The girl sighed, placing a comforting arm around Lucas's neck and drawing him closer to her. "There's nothing you can do Luke," she replied finally. "Just let her calm down and then apologise, and hope like hell she forgives you. And if she does, then be her friend, okay?"

"But –" Lucas opened his mouth to protest, but Haley cut him off.

"I mean it Luke," she warned. "_Friend_. No declarations of love, no kissing, no flirting, no nothing, okay?" Seeing his unwilling nod, she continued, explaining her reasoning. "Look, when you wanted Brooke back after cheating on her the first time, it took a lot of strength on her part to trust you again, and you abused that trust. And this time, not only did you kiss Peyton, but then you dated her, slept with her, told her you loved her. How is Brooke supposed to believe that it's her you really want?"

Lucas sighed, shaking his head. "She just _is_ Hales, I can't explain it. She's the one that makes my heart skip a beat every time I see her, the one that makes my heart ache when she cries…she's everything," he whispered.

Haley smiled. "I know," she told him, "I can see the difference between the way you look at Brooke and the way you look at Peyton, hell, we all can. But Brooke? Well all she can see is the image of the two of you kissing on that web cam." 

The blond boy nodded, understanding his friend's words. "I will make her see the difference," he vowed. "I have to."

"She'll see it eventually," Haley reassured the anxious boy. "Just take your time Luke, okay? Don't push it."

Lucas nodded again, getting to his feet and heading towards the door. "Thanks Hales," he smiled, before gesturing to the door. "I'm gonna take a walk, think some things through. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, see you later," the girl agreed, watching as her friend left, before sinking back onto the sofa, breathing a sigh of relief as she realised the sound of sobbing could no longer be heard.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Brooke didn't take the news well then?" Jake asked sympathetically, sitting down beside Peyton in the hot tub, having left a sleeping Jenny in the care of Mouth.

"She said she finished with Lucas because I said I loved him," Peyton whispered, almost in disbelief, "and now I'm saying that I don't, it was all for nothing."

Jake sighed, taking his former girlfriend's hand and rubbing it soothingly. "Well, I can see where she's coming from," he admitted. "I mean," he chuckled wryly, "when I heard you say that you loved Lucas, it broke my heart, and now that you've split up a part of me thinks that if only you'd known how you really felt it would have saved us all a lot of heartache."

"So you think I'm a selfish bitch as well?" the girl asked sadly, a tear running down her cheek as Jake smiled.

"No, I don't think that. I know you really thought you loved Lucas," he told her reassuringly, slipping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close to him, "and so does Brooke really, she just hasn't calmed down enough to realise it yet."

Peyton shook her head. "She really hates me Jake," she told the boy, "you didn't hear the things she said."

"Brooke doesn't hate you," Jake repeated firmly, "but I can understand why she thinks she does. It killed me when I arrived to find out you and Lucas were together, and Brooke had to live through that every day? Not able to tell her best friend how she felt? That must have been awful for her Pey." The girl nodded in understanding and he continued. "Especially when she was the one who pushed the two of you together in the first place."

"I didn't ask her to give Lucas up," the blond girl muttered, feeling a stab of guilt as Jake explained Brooke's feelings.

Jake chuckled. "I know," he told her, "but I also know how afraid Brooke was that you and Lucas would decide you were meant to be together. If I'm honest, when we were together, I was scared that would happen too," he admitted, tracing a circle on Peyton's back as he spoke. "Brooke pushed Lucas to you because for her, the two of you together was the worst case scenario. Once that happened, nothing else could hurt her," he finished.

Peyton nodded sadly, tears streaming down her face as she contemplated Jake's words. "Rachel was right," she managed finally, causing the boy to look down at her in confusion.

"Right about what?" he questioned, worry evident in his face as he watched Peyton cry quietly.

A moment passed before the girl rubbed her eyes and began to speak. "Rachel said that I didn't deserve Brooke, because when she was crying over losing Lucas I was out there chasing him, and she was right," her sobs escalated again, and Jake waited patiently, rubbing Peyton's back comfortingly. "What sort of friend lets their friend go through that on their own, Jake?" she cried desperately. "And worse what sort of friend _causes_ that much pain?" Tears of self-loathing streamed from her blue eyes, splashing into the hot tub as Jake pulled her closer, letting her sob in his arms.

"The sort of friend who made a mistake," he whispered finally. "And Brooke wasn't on her own," he reminded her soothingly, "she had Haley, and Rachel."

Peyton chuckled wryly. "Not so long ago Brooke hated Rachel," she told Jake, "and now Rachel's proven she's a better friend than I could ever be."

"That's not true," Jake tried, "Brooke will forgive you, you know that."

"Maybe so," the blonde murmured. "But that doesn't mean I deserve it," she pointed out, remembering Haley's words.

Jake sighed. "Listen to me," he instructed, "you can't change what's already happened, but you can change what happens in the future. You just need to show Brooke that you really are sorry, and eventually she'll learnt to trust you again, I promise."

Peyton nodded. "I hope you're right," she whispered, before turning back to the boy who held her. "And what about you Jake?" she asked, elaborating when a confused frown furrowed his forehead. "Can you ever trust me again?"

The boy smiled sadly. "I trust you Pey," he told her, knowing immediately where her line of questioning was heading, "but you hurt me too you know. When I heard you say you loved Lucas my heart broke. I just need to be sure that you won't change your mind again."

The girl nodded again. "I always loved you," she murmured, looking up into the comforting brown eyes that always made her feel as though she was at home, and smiling slightly as the corners of Jake's mouth twitched upwards, betraying his happiness at her words. "I screwed everything up, didn't I?" she sighed rhetorically, dropping her gaze from his when he didn't speak.

Jake chuckled, tilting her head back to face him and dropping a kiss on her cheek, dangerously close to her lips. "No you didn't," he countered, "and anyway, we've got through worse than this before."

Peyton kinked her eyebrows, confusion clouding her eyes. "You mean…?" she questioned, hardly daring to hope that Jake was implying what she thought he was. "You mean you think we can work things out?" she managed finally, holding her breath as she waited for an answer.

The boy smiled, nodding. "It might not be easy," he cautioned, "and I don't think we should rush into anything, but I'd like to think we can eventually. Just…" he paused for a second, losing himself in her blue eyes before tearing himself away and completing the sentence, "friends first, okay?"

Peyton nodded. "Friends," she whispered in agreement, "I could use one of those," she added, with a cynical laugh.

"You'll work things out with Brooke," Jake tried reassuringly, stroking a blonde curl away from her face.

The girl shrugged. "What about Haley and Rachel?" she questioned. "They're pissed at me too. Not that I care too much what Rachel thinks," she clarified, "but Haley seemed pretty disappointed in me."

"Just talk to them," Jake advised, lacing his fingers with Peyton's in an effort to return the smile to her face. "It'll be okay," he murmured comfortingly, "you'll see." 

Peyton sighed. "I hope you're right," she whispered, but uncertainty clouded her voice, and as the two sat there, water bubbling merrily around them, Jake found himself crossing his fingers. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How is she?" Haley looked up anxiously from feeding James as her husband walked into the living room, running his hands through his hair exhaustedly.

"She's asleep," Nathan announced, sinking onto the sofa next to his wife and grinning at his son. "But she's a mess," he continued. "Luke's really screwed things up this time."

Rachel snorted. "No change there then," she muttered viciously, kicking at the carpet in an expression of disgust.

"Where's Jake?" Nathan asked Mouth, seeing Jenny sitting on his friend's lap and choosing to ignore Rachel's comment.

"Talking to Peyton," Mouth responded, smiling at the little girl who was undressing the doll she held, telling the toy in no uncertain terms that she shouldn't be wearing a sweater at the beach.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The bitch didn't waste any time then," she remarked snidely.

"Rachel," Haley warned, throwing a pointed glance at Jenny who thankfully appeared not to have heard.

"Whatever," the redhead shrugged. "From what Brooke tells me about her mother, I bet the kid's heard worse."

"She's got a point there Hales," Nathan admitted with a smile, placing a comforting hand on his wife's knee to prevent her from protesting further. "But," he told the smirking girl, "the same doesn't apply to James, and I know he's too young too understand," he continued, seeing Rachel open her mouth to argue, "but we would appreciate it if you could watch your language around him, okay?"

Rachel opened her mouth and then closed it again. "Fine," she finally agreed sulkily. "But Peyton is a _witch_," she repeated, pointedly choosing a more acceptable word as Haley rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't one of her finer moments, that's for sure," Haley agreed. "She didn't even understand why Brooke was upset," she added to Nathan and Mouth who sighed in disbelief.

"How did things get so screwed up?" Mouth wondered, receiving shrugs from Nathan and Haley.

"Simple," Rachel announced, a smile playing on her lips. "Lucas rejected me," she pointed out, "and that's where all his problems started."

Mouth chuckled, as Haley rolled her eyes once again. "Hate to damage your ego," she countered sarcastically, "but the never-ending love triangle was already firmly in place before you arrived in town. You were just a plot device."

"Yeah, well, maybe Lucas is just a plot device," the redhead argued. "After all, Brooke and Peyton were sleeping with the same guy long before Luke showed up, weren't they Nate?" she taunted.

"Leave it Hales," the dark haired Scott cautioned as his wife opened her mouth to make a retort, "this isn't helping anyone, least of all Brooke."

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Mouth asked the room at large, taking Nathan's lead and interrupting before the girls could return to their bickering.

Rachel smiled sadly at the concerned expression on her friend's face. "Don't worry Mouth," she told the boy "Brooke's tough. It'll take more than those two to break her."

"Do you really think so?" Mouth questioned, almost desperately, and the redhead sighed.

"No," she admitted, her voice almost a whisper. Seeing the concerned looks from the other teens she elaborated, sighing. "Brooke's cried herself to sleep every night since she ended things with Lucas," she told them brutally, ignoring the glances of horror and worry the trio exchanged at her words. "She wasn't coping before, and now…well…" her voice trailed off as the group considered the implications of her statement.

Haley was the first to break the silence. "Maybe it'll be easier for her now that she doesn't have to see Lucas and Peyton together," she suggested hopefully.

"Maybe," Rachel conceded, for once not tempted to argue with the young mother. "Or maybe it'll be harder now that she knows she can have Lucas, but just can't trust him," she countered, frowning.

Nathan groaned, his head spinning from the emotional meltdown he had experienced over the previous hours. "Can't I just kick Luke's ass?" he whined. "That would make life so much simpler."

The others chuckled, relieved to have a break from attempting to analyse Brooke's potential reactions. "I think Brooke did fine at that by herself," Haley grinned, remembering the scratches and bruises that adorned Lucas's chest.

"Damn right I did," a voice came from the doorway, and the others spun round in surprise to see Brooke there, hair dishevelled and still dressed only in Lucas's hoodie. Seeing their confusion she smiled slightly. "I couldn't sleep," she announced, "and I heard you guys talking, so…" she shrugged silently. "I guess I didn't want to be alone," she admitted shakily, biting her lip and staring at the floor.

"You're not alone Tigger," Haley sighed, passing James over to his father and making room for Brooke to sit beside her. "It'll be okay," she whispered soothingly, pulling the broken girl into her lap and cuddling her as though she was a small child, "it'll be okay." But as the others watched Haley console her friend, they could only hope desperately that her words would prove to be true.


End file.
